


Star Foam: Hanamai no Sakura

by DumbAppleG



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Minor Canonical Character(s), Ninja, POV Alternating, Plot Twists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5231195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DumbAppleG/pseuds/DumbAppleG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When heroes stepped the stage, fairy tales ended. For a certian kunoichi, the ending of the War was merely the beginning of greater pain and harsher life. There were secrets untouched, deceased undead, feelings untold. But Haruno Sakura had to embrace all of them and grow into a better self... MadaSaku post-war AU, a what if story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Silver Lining

There was a cloud wondering in the sky.

Perching on the top of an oak tree, Haruno Sakura fixed her eyes on that whiteness. She was now on her way back to Konoha after an infiltration mission in the Land of Field. During the past two months she had to lurk in Orochimaru’s scary underground bases. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, as the bases were clouded with depression and she had to write an excessively long mission report after she returned to her village.

 _Dull, unnecessary paperwork for our new Hokage_ , the petal-haired kunoichi grimaced behind her porcelain mask.

Although questioning orders from the Kage was violating Konoha ANBU regulation, Sakura couldn’t help but think why on earth the Hokage had sent one of the few elite ninja now in the village on such a mission. Technically speaking, whatever happened in Field had nothing to do with Konoha, and ANBU missions, just like what she had done over the past two months, couldn’t bring money to the village.

_Well, perhaps our dearest Kage literally fears his old shishou, doesn’t he?_

Sakura thought sarcastically, but the next second, her body stiffened. _This, again!_ It was a tickling pain on her left ear, to be more precisely, a tickling pain on her left earlobe that occurred from time to time as soon as she turned sixteen. She had brushed it away the first time it surfaced, ignored it the second time it kicked in. Then after quite a few sleepless nights on battlefields, she could no longer shove away the idea that there were eyes on her no matter where she went.

 _Being a shinobi isn’t that bad, right? I don’t take life from the innocents and I am a medic as well,_ she thought grimly. _Surely I am not evil enough to be haunted by ghosts, compared to_ him _._

Sighing, Sakura ran her hand through her short pink hair. She jumped down to a tree branch and then launched forward. Within seconds, the tiger mask ANBU disappeared.

* * *

Shortly after sunset, the boundary wall of Konoha came into sight. It had been protecting the village through three major wars, which made it a symbol of protection in Sakura’s eyes even though there was actually no man on guard… Emerald eyes narrowed slightly: the Hokage must have called back the patrolling squads again, regardless of the safety of civilian behind the wall.

Leaving such an opening was deplorable, utterly unacceptable. That was why Sakura’s ANBU team patrolled spontaneously outside the wall until the Hokage split her squad up and sent them to lengthy solo mission.

The petal-haired kunoichi landed on the wall effortlessly. Taking off her porcelain mask, Sakura inhaled the cold air of autumn and looked about. The village was wrapped in the darkness of night and the six faces on the Hokage Rock looked ominous. The civilian block was half empty; and the sad thing was, those who remained were either too weak to flee or too stubborn to move.

Putting on the tiger mask, Sakura jumped off the boundary wall, and landed on the empty street inside. Her light footsteps melted into the chilling wind as she made her way to ANBU headquarter.

_Even Orochimaru’s place is livelier than this ghost town. And I bet Suna is a more agreeable place for a living man even though it is in the center of a desert._

She spotted a dilapidated building on the other side of the street. It was a two-storage bakery, with the barely recognizable kanji of Odaya on its wooden sign. Sakura’s chest tightened, for this small, deserted building was the place she used to call home.

Oda Daisuke and Akira, the civilian couple who had adopted her from Konoha Orphanage when she was three, were not Konoha model parents, but they cared for her and loved her as any good parent would do. Odaya, their family bakery had been on the ground floor, leaving the upstairs as the family’s living quarter. She recalled helping Akira baking cookies in warm Sunday afternoons, giving Daisuke hand-made garland when he was reading newspaper in his study. And she recalled the devastation she returned home after her first chūnin exam, only to find an empty bakery and a notification of death of her deceased parents.

 _Having wars_ , her eyes watered and Sakura blinked away her tears, _is an utterly waste of lives. So why did someone bend on making the world hell after that?_

Being aware of the unpleasant direction of her thoughts, the petal-haired kunoichi tut and then marched forward. Black cloak parted as she strode down the street, revealing her white ANBU vest that was part of Konoha standard ANBU gears.

The world Haruno Sakura once knew had already fallen apart, so there was simply no time for her to be cynical.

* * *

_This feeling again!_

Sakura scowled, lying on her bed with her usual outfit on. Her earlobe had kept tingled for two days, feeding her overstrained nerves the sensation of being spied on.

_Three more days like this then I will happily snap and strangle someone. Mildly irritated, Sakura forced herself to stare at her off-white ceiling._

Inhale, hold, count to ten, and exhale. Inhale, hold… She repeated this for several times, until she was calm enough to analyze things.

It was a warming, Sakura thought. Something would happen—she could even smell the anticipation in the air and tasted in the water. And the last time her nerves screamed so hard, Konoha lost her beloved leader.

Four years had passed since Tsunade had proudly declared that she had nothing else to teach her protégé and then poisoned the said protégé with her favorite sake. Four years later, the Godaime Hokage had left the world and Sakura was serving Konoha ANBU, going on S-classed mission with Nara Shikamaru, Hyūga Neji and Hatake Kakashi. Even Naruto, who used to be the number one knuckle-headed troublemaker in Fire, was mature enough to go on solo missions all by himself.

Of course, there had been signs of peace after the Fourth Shinobi World War, for which thousands of shinobi formed Allied Shinobi Force and fought against a psycho, namely Uchiha Obito, who had been the ultimate enemy of shinobi world. However, shortly after Obito was defeated and the tailed beasts became dormant, the Force collapsed. In light of the after-war depression, each and every shinobi village sought for their own good, hoarding every ounce of resource to keep them alive.

_…Just like we have never fight side by side._

Feeling disoriented, Sakura stared at the Medic Oath engraved on her wall, trying to clear her mind.

“First clause: No medical-nin shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end.” The kunoichi read the first rule aloud. How pathetic, in this ruthless world, how many people still care about others’ behaves?

 _Oh, leave it be!_ The more rational side of her screamed, _you're getting far too emotional. No matter how hard life is, at least you are alive and kicking._

The kunoichi smiled bitterly, for she could hardly persuade herself: living in such a world, she was now perching on the edge of losing hope.

The kunoichi recalled the large grin Naruto sported yesterday. It was as wide and carefree as the one he wore when they were Gennin. But Sakura knew that, for Naruto, smiling had become a mask to hide his true feelings. Seldom did they see each other now, but she couldn't blame the blond, for they reminded each other about how much pain they had suffered. As a result, Naruto and she seldom speak to each other ever since Sasuke returned to Konoha. Oh yes, the Uchiha Sasuke came home on his own will after the grand funeral for Tsunade-shishou and many other Konoha shinobi…with a redhead kunoichi and a month-old infant.

When the entire world was struggling, Sasuke was busy fulfilling his second goal in life: making Uchiha babies. Sakura snickered at this thought. _Compromising a whore is such a great thing; surely it won't bring shame to his family._

She combed her hair, the fine texture of those pink strands reminded her of school days, when skirts and girl talks were the center of her life. Now she preferred to keep her hair short, even Ino's constant bugging couldn't change her mind. Long hair and pretty accessories are for good shinobi—this was what she had learned.

Her medical skills may have surpassed Tsunade’s; however, there was bigger fish in the pound. Say, the tailed beasts were gone now, but what would happen if they return? Would they remember their promise to make peace with shinobi? Would their power fall into the wrong hands? There was no answer. But one thing was for sure: without enough prowesses, she would be nothing than a little medical-nin.

Looking out of the window, Sakura managed to judge time based on the positions of stars. Midnight is approaching, which means her team would reunion 8 hours later according to the mission roaster in ANBU HQ.

The kunoichi looked up to the crest moon high up in the heaven. It was almost midnight. According to the mission roaster in ANBU HQ, Kakashi would be back tomorrow. She should be feeling good, knowing Kakashi would be back in 8 hours and there would be a team reunion soon. And she should have been feeling good, but her mood was spoiled by that tickling sensation again. This time, she could even feel someone breathing down her neck.

Sneering inwardly, the petal-haired kunoichi shot up from her bed, grabbing her weapon pouch as she strolled to the other side of the room. Soundlessly she jumped out of the window then headed to the fifth training ground.

Yet there would be no more team reunion, not in near future, at least.

* * *

Sakura felt decidedly better after tearing the entire training ground up-side-down. But still, she was restless, that was the reason she was patrolling outside the boundary wall at three o'clock in the morning.

She halted as thunders roaring on the distant horizon. Panting softly, she tilted her head to the east. The night wind was soft and gently, and she could smell rain in the moisture-laden air.

_Drip, drip, drip..._

A shower started. Single raindrops turned to a hanging waterfall in a blink of an eye, pouring down all over a very very annoyed Haruno Sakura.

“Oh this is just great.” She hissed angrily, “poking under Orochimaru's nose, suffering from phantom pain like a psycho, and now, being caught in a shower!”

She dropped to the ground and placed herself on a pile of withered brown leaves. Soaking wet were her short locks and kunoichi outfit now. _If a lightning strike down now, I will be roasted._ Trees were groaning and shivering, but Sakura smirked at this notion.

A blazing light was there on the distant horizon, and then the dark clouds were torn apart. Heaven was roaring, rain was pouring, and Sakura was shuddering… and she smelled smoke. _Oh, kami-sama,_ she gasped and dashed back in full speed.

Konoha was on fire.

It was obvious that her village was under attacked. Inside the high boundary wall, raging flames ate through wooden houses and allies, leaving ashes and burnt material in its wake. Sakura leaped into air, scanning other parts of the village to see if any expedient was taken. But no, no shinobi was out. _Where the hell are the chūnin squads? Sasuke should have someone put off the fire!_

She spotted a foreign figure in the fire, presumable an intruding shinobi. Without any hesitant, Sakura pulled out a kunai. Bright emerald eyes flashing dangerously as she blocked the rain of shuriken flying towards her. Then she tossed her kunai to the intruder.

It was missed, but she didn't expect it to produce even the most minor cut.

In the blink of an eye, Sakura landed on a small pound and crouched down like a feline ready to strike.

“Who are you? Why are you attacking Konohagakure?” She demanded, eyes fixing on the shinobi's forehead protector. The wave-like insignia on it was slashed. _He is a Kiri missing-nin._

He replied with another rush of shuriken. The petal-haired kunoichi dodged it with ease, but she had missed the sword directing to her back.

He removed her left arm in a quick slash, smiling in joy as the petite figure collapsed to the muddy ground. But that smile disappeared when he realized a second later, that no blood was coming out of the wound, which was impossible for a shinobi of flesh and blood…

“Shanaro!” The petal-haired kunoichi burst out from the pound she previously crouched on, giving the man a solid punch right on his chest.

 _A dead enemy is not an immediate threat._ Sakura tutted as the missing-nin crashed into a nearby tree, breaking it into two parts. The chakra she sent into his system would damage his inner tissues immediately. She snapped her fingers to dispel her water clone before turning to the burning district.

Emerald eyes gazed over the fire, one of the brightest minds in Konoha began forming several plans on putting off the fire _and_ persuading a certain Rukodaime Hokage to spare some found for reconstruction. Then she sensed them, several approaching chakra signatures that where disturbingly familiar to her. _If shishou is still in charge of Konoha... there won't be any invasion like this._ She thought grimly.

“Haruno Sakura, what are you doing here?” The Rukodaime Hokage strolled towards the petal-haired kunoichi. Spruce and well dressed, his appearance was a stark contrast to Sakura's condition, which was no better than a drowned rat.

“Sasuke,” she wiped her face in an attempt to brush away the cold rain water. “Why don't you do something about the fire?”

“I did,” wrapping in the white Hokage haori, Uchiha Sasuke replied coldly. “And you shall call me Hokage-sama.”

 _Hokage-sama?_ Sakura scoffed and turned away, showing her back to the raven-haired shinobi. Six years ago Uchiha Sasuke had been a moody gennin—and he was still a gennin now—whose best interest was to pick up fights with Naruto. By the time he returned to Konoha after the grand funeral (Sakura mentally flinched), he had become a heartless, arrogant bastard… She felt an iron grip on her left shoulder.

“Answer me,” she heard the Hokage ordered.

“Don't you touch me!” A sudden rush of anger surged through her veins. Her earlobe didn't tingle anymore, but still, Sakura was in a very bad mood and her every cell inside her body was yarning for a fight. So she slapped him, forcing her ex-teammate to back off.

“You might be the Hokage, Sasuke, but you are not qualified to be one. You are worse than Danzō from every aspect, and your eyes must be deteriorating, am I right? They are eating up your vision seconds by seconds. Just like Itachi's, your eyes will eventually...!”

She was smacked across her face before she could finish. Inhaling sharply, she took a step backward in order to regain her balance and placed her hand on her cheeks. She glared at the man in Hokage haori. Her muscles tightened, her heart ached, something inside her burnt like fire.

“Never use his name,” the Hokage stated in monotone. “And don’t making up nonsense like that, little girl.”

 _Little girl? How dare he speak of me like that!_ Emerald eyes narrowed into slits. The rain was still pouring down from the sky.

“Get out of here.” The black tomoe in his eyes started to spin. “You are merely a civilian girl playing ninja games. Your skill as a kunoichi is nothing but pathetic... Haruno Sakura, you are inferior, incompetent, a waste of grain in my village.”

“For kami’s sake, you have no right to...”

“I _am_ the Rukodaime Hokage of Konohagakure of Fire. Leave my village in thirty minutes, Haruno, else I will send ANBU for your head.”

_Finally, it is my turn._

Sakura stared at her former teammate blankly. After some many others, now it was her turn to be expelled. Under Sasuke's lead, the once prosperous village was now a ghost town. Many of her comrades had fled to Suna in search of protection which Gaara gladly provided. Team Gai had left for half a year by now. Only ancient families like Hyūga clan and Ino-Shika-Cho were still here

Of course, she was offered to leave for Suna more than one time, yet she refused to give up, still hoping that everything would be alright. _Apparently, I am everything but alright now._ Sasuke was dead serious, and she did believe that the Sharingan user would order an execution if she lingered in Konoha any longer.

There was no other choice for Sakura.

She had to leave.

"Fine," Sakura replied tonelessly. Her voice cold, betraying nothing of her thought. "I will leave, and I'll show you how wrong you are, Uchiha Sasuke."

Then she walked pass Sasuke, determined not to speak one more word with that heartless bastard.

“You're merely a medical-nin, nothing more.” She heard his voice through the rain, words dripped with venom. “I have a village full of them. Dear Sakura-chan, you might be special since you have such an abnormal forehead, but you are just an average…”

“Shut up! See you never.”

* * *

A wild, sadistic look appeared on Sasuke's face as the petal-haired female disappeared into rain. He heard water splinted, indicating another shinobi’s approach. Even in such a heavy rain, one could still smell the strong smell of perfume rolling off.

A redhead clang to his arm and pressed her coated lips against his. “About time we get rid of her. With her gone, I am the prettiest kunoichi in the entire village.” Karin coaxed.

“You have always been the prettiest kunoichi.” Sasuke pulled her face towards his and kissed her on her cheeks. The obnoxious smell tickled his nostrils. He scowled, pulled up and glared at someone invisible.

"Well Sasuke-kun," Karin whined in a pusillanimous voice. "Why do you hate that girl so much?

The Hokage fixed his glare on his wife for a while. And then he spoke, crimson eyes hollow, “Long before I know you, Karin, I asked her to help me revive my clan. But she said no. Ever since then, I can't stand looking at her.”

“I can't believe her! No one can be that dumb to turn you down!” Karin cried, obviously thinking why in hell someone could reject her husband.

“Someone smart can do that, trust me."

The Hokage turned to the familiar voice. The new comer had spiky blond hair and sharp cerulean eyes, wearing a headband-style forehead protector. His young handsome face was covered in ashes and dirt, making those cat-like whiskers on his cheeks difficult to find.

Uzumaki Naruto was still wearing his orange jumpsuit as he had when he was a Gennin. Despite the fact he had gotten a field promotion that made him jōnin, he never put on Konoha's standard green tank top. The boy who used to be the dead-last in Academy was gone, the one who was now barely grinning at his Hokage was one a shinobi seasoned by sweat and blood and pain.

"The fire is out… Hokage." The blond whispered quietly. His mild manner made his previous sarcasm surreal.

"Very well," Sasuke pulled Karin to him and then closed his eyes, "you go and make sure my mansion is well cleaned and in perfect condition. Be quick, there are some business I'd like to take care of."

"Yes sir." The blond nodded in acknowledgement. With a slight puff, he disappeared, leaving the dictator of Konoha in the woods.

"Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked, as if she was trying to confirm something. "Are you just using me for sex?"

"No. Of course not." Eyes closed, Sasuke caressed the redhead's cheeks. "You are much more important than that. You are my wife, Karin, and you shall help me revive my clan."

Karin blushed at his blatant words, and... “Is there another Uchiha being able to help? I mean, the sex part is great, but me as a mom…” Her voice trailed off when she saw her husband opened his eyes. He wasn’t furious at her, yet he still mouthed her off. Karin kept her eyes shot even after their lips parted, listening to her husband's impassive statement.

Outside this village, there is only one Uchiha alive. He possesses a power so great that no other living can parallel. But now his name is a mere shadow from the past, lost in the history, forgotten by many. For some reason, he will never continue his line.

“He is Madara, my insane ancestor whose ultimate goal is conquering the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 3463  
> Last Revised on: 2015/11/17  
> \------  
> Next Chapter: Angel in Exile


	2. Angel in Exile

Panting, Haruno Sakura leaned against a weatherworn rock. Although the late autumn breeze was refreshing, her forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat. She looked into the north, trying to imagine her beloved village, miles and miles, bathing in the warm sunshine of the Land of Fire. And…here she was, catching her breathe on an open plain in the Land of Rivers. All around her were dull, endless slopes stretching towards the horizon.

_Now I am eighteen, and I am a missing-nin, the very kind of shinobi I despise._

This notion was unsurprisingly dreadful, disturbing the very marrow in Sakura’s bones. Forcefully she pushed it aside so that she could have some rest after a life-or-death flight. No, it wasn’t the fact that Uchiha Sasuke had kicked her out like yesterday’s garbage that had made her sick, but the loneliness inside of her made her blood cold in this foreign ground. The weight of Sakura’s knapsack was a reminder of the cruel validity that she could no longer return to her village, unless she was caught and sent to the Torture and Interrogation Department in Konoha.

 _I don’t have a village to return to anymore._ The realization dawned on her.

The petal-haired kunoichi was once taught to value Konoha beyond anything else, and she firmly believed that. However, when Konoha had given up on her, Sakura came to realize that she had nothing to live. What would her fight for? What would her struggle for? Her heart was empty and hollow as if everything solid was sucked out through a straw.

But, there was always another way to take. Tsunade-shishou had been driven away from Konoha when she was young kunoichi. Nevertheless, shishou was still the greatest kunoichi throughout shinobi history.

 _The life outside the boundary wall begins now,_ Sakura swore. _I will follow in shishou’s example and I will ripen in to a great medic and kunoichi. As for now, I had better find a refuge._

Sighing, the petal-haired kunoichi straightened her body despise her tiredness. A secured parameter was a necessity for Sakura because packs of foreign hunter-nin were now hot on her trail. Hunting green missing-nin down had been a common practice for shinobi villages, mainly because missing-nin were generally extremely vulnerable after their betrayals. And the longer missing-nin had escaped, the tougher they became, which meant they were less unlikely to be hunted down. Provided the sizeable sum of bounty Sasuke had placed over her head, Sakura was extremely glad that she had come so far without missing any of her body part.

Then she sensed them, dim chakra signatures heading quickly approaching. Bright emerald eyes narrowed as she pinpointed four dots.

 _When you find yourself out-numbered, face your enemies openly and calculate before they get too close._ Her master once told her with a stern look, a bright light dancing in her master's honey brown eyes.

Figuring that she had no better option other than facing the hunter-nin pack overboard, the petal-haired kunoichi jumped up to the massive rock beside her. And there they were, four black figures running towards her: they had figured her out, apparently.

_…And then you shall decide whether you should overpower them or flee for your life._

The hunter-nin pack halted suddenly as Sakura had hurled them a kunai on their path. Perching on her vantage point, the petal-haired kunoichi observed the pack with keen emerald eyes.

 _Black hoods and plain porcelain masks can mean anything…_ The shinobi on the left was holding a pair of kunai with his bare hands, which meant he was skilled in close combat and possibly a taijutsu type. The one who was guarding the right wing seemed to be relaxed, yet his pose suggested that he was ready to unleash powerful ninjutsu, most likely to be an offensive one toward her. There had to be a sensing type as well, since the pack had detected her. _A typical Konoha ANBU squad,_ Sakura thought grimly.

“Please leave, ANBU-san. I have no intention to harm you,” said Sakura. The last thing in her mind was fighting against her past comrades. Honestly speaking, she wasn’t sure if she could deal with four elite shinobi without ANBU teammates backing her up.

The assumable Konoha ANBU did not reply, nor did they attack. The wind died, yet none of them moved, which made Sakura unnerved. Since one could overact when unnerved, it was an understanding that Sakura gasped and conjured a pair of chakra scalpels when a cylinder was thrown to her.

She almost slashed the cylinder into half. However, she did not because there was familiar chakra lingering on the cylinder, Shikamaru’s chakra, to be exact.

Watching squad in her peripheral vision, Sakura summoned more chakra scalpels and then inspected the cylinder, fully prepared to throw it away if the exploded. Yet it was just a normal scroll case. No explosive tags attached, no genjutsu designs set, no ninjutsu-based traps built in. The sole thing out of place was a fūin, where Shikamaru’s chakra was leaking out. _Something is very wrong._

“What is it?”

“Haruno Sakura, all you have to do is to keep it safe,” replied the second shinobi to the left. His voice was low, deep, and stern, muffled by his mask. “Follow the instruction written inside the scroll.”

The petal-haired kunoichi would scowl if condition permitted. She wanted the shinobi to explain himself, but he simply didn’t give her a chance to ask. He brought his hand, formed a hand seal for Konoha teleport jutsu, and with a courteous node, disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura did scowl when the rest of the squad teleported away.

_I must have met the lead beforehand. Nevertheless, who is he?_

Unfortunately, there was no answer to her question. Irritated, she tilted her head and tracked the four chakra dots moving east through her mind’s eye. The wind was soft. The sky was blue. Haruno Sakura was completely alone.

With a sigh, she investigated the scroll case again. It was medium sized, with a universal sealing tag attached to it. A normal shinobi could easily dismiss it as a tool for transportation. But Sakura was not a normal shinobi, instead, she was an elite kunoichi, so there would be no surprising that she found a subtle fūin on it.

Genbu Fūin, named after the God of Northern Sky, was one of the six sealing techniques secretly developed during Fourth Shinobi World War. She and Shikamaru were assigned to a secret mission in order to, “find out seals reliable enough to replace the ones now using in ANBU”, in Godaime’s words. The young shinobi used up two months to design a set of seals in theory and then perform the first three fūin successfully. But the sad thing was that, their findings would never come into practice in a Konoha ruled by Uchiha Sasuke, for Tsunade had sacrificed before she could review the handiwork done by her appetence and young Nara.

Carefully Sakura directed her chakra in to the seal. Genbu Fūin was strong and delicate, like a durable veil, protecting what was inside of it. When it could no longer serve as a protection, it would burn away all its contents, leaving those secrets secret.

 _Shikamaru has helped making this scroll, for he is the only other person who know this sealing,_ the petal-haired kunoichi thought. _So there are confidential stuffs inside, something important to Konoha and Sasuke does not like… I can’t head to Suna, so where shall I go?_

Tugging the scroll into her knapsack, Sakura jumped down from the rock and landed in its shadow. Gently she soothed down the wrinkles on her beige apron, a striking contrast with earthy ground. Sakura sighed. Her bright-colored attire had served her well in Konoha, but it would certainly give away her trail in the world outside. For safety reason, she needed to purchase some clothing in the next civilian village.

Her earlobe didn’t tickle, which was unusual considering her circumstance. Yet she was too tired to think about it, in fact, she didn’t feel like doing anything other than sinking into a kami-blessed slumber.

_You shall not fall asleep... You don't want to be caught off guard, do you?_

Slowly, the petal-haired kunoichi placed herself on the ground, mediating for life-saving chakra.

* * *

Winters in the Land of Rain were cold, that was what the Academy taught Sakura. And true to those childhood textbooks, the land was tinted silvery white when Sakura stepped foot in Rain. Wrapping her travelling cloak tight, she looked at the frozen scenery and promptly decided that stealth was unnecessary, because no hunter-nin, if there was anyone of them still targeting at her specifically, would came into the wild in such a cold winter.

A blast of wind swept through the wild, forcing Sakura to pull her grayish cloak even tighter. The new outfit she acquired in the Land of Rivers was warm, comfortable and stark. If she put on the hood, she was unimpressionable in the crowd. She had taken down her Konoha forehead protector and hid it in her inner pocket. The metal plate looked just as it had been when she was still in her home village, smooth and bright without prick and stretch. But she could not wear it anymore as long as Sasuke was in charge of Konoha. Thus, she put on her second forehead protector, the one specially designed for Allied Shinobi Force, the one engraved with the kanji for shinobi.

It was not her first option, standing here in an unfamiliar territory. She did not feel like running into any shinobi in Rain, because Amegakure, the shinobi village on this land, had been infamous for its anti-foreign tendency. Although Amegakure did join Allied Shinobi Force during Fourth Shinobi World War against Uchiha Obito, the very perception that Akatsuki's headquarter was placed in Ame, was deep-seeded in her mind, keeping the kunoichi constantly on guard when handling any assignment related to that village.

Yet the winter had come, making it more difficult to survive in the wilderness. Since Sakura had searched the Land of River inch by inch without finding a safe harbor, she had to turn to its neighbors. That was why she finally came to Rain, where six of the nine Jinchūriki lost their lives because of Akatsuki.

 _I need sharper eyes if I was cornered in a winter plain: senben are hard to see against glittering snow,_ Sakura fished out a map from her pocket and unfolded it, o _r a less favorable battlefield for hunter-nin, though I can always produce a mini earthquake if I feel pleased._

Carefully, she scanned the paper. On the map, she spotted a black dot representing a civilian town not far from here. There was high chance for her to meet some Ame-nin there.

Sakura took a deep breathed and sprinted forward. Soundlessly she sailed through the frozen plain, her footprints shallow, erased by the wind that had been whispering long before ninja appeared.

* * *

A small town came into view before the sun was high.

Sakura ventured into the busy civilian streets, expanding her chakra radar. To her very surprise, the town was peaceful, as if Fourth Shinobi World War had never occurred. Beautiful teruteru bozu were hanging outside by street windows. An elderly couples strolled past, their fair as white as snow on the roofs. Groups of women were chatting at the crossroad with baskets on their arms. There were children laughing gleefully, throwing snowballs at each other.

Laughter suddenly brought up vague images of vivid colors, of misty mountains, copper kettle and a toddler with pink hair wagging in the snow… Sakura blinked, the images vanished as quickly as they appeared. Her chest tightened, making those emerald eyes watered.

 _I must be more than a little homesick, to dream up something like that_ , the petal-haired kunoichi decided. Then she resumed her search, trying her best to pick up a flaring chakra signature. Kami-sama knew she tried, but Sakura could find any shinobi, not even a kunai. For three nights, she waited for their approach, and on the fourth day, her long-expecting guests came to visit.

A makeshift squad of four ninja boys paid her a visit, inviting her to their village.

 _Wait! A shinobi village does not invite a foreign missing-nin to a friendly tea party._  Sakura warned herself. Yet the boys simply stood there, staring at her with innocent eyes, clearly intrigued by her fancy hair color. _Chakra won't lie, so they do not mean to be hostile... do they?_  Seeing there was no better way to go, the kunoichi accepted the offer and followed the ninja boys to their village, Amegakure, the village that had kept its secrets in dark for decades.

* * *

The ninja boys led Sakura through the busy streets of Amegakure later in the day. While memorizing paths and crossing in case of possible breakouts, Sakura managed to squeeze out some information from the Ame kids.

“Where are we going?” she asked cautiously.

“To the center tower,” Akitoki, one of the boys chirped, “Tenshi-sama wants to meet you there.” Maroon haired and blue eyed, he was 13 years old or so and the leader of his squad.

 _Tenshi-sama?_  Sakura frowned. All she could tell was that only one shinobi had ever been addressed like that. Konan, the female Akatsuki who had once studied under Jiraiya.

“I see. But why does your Tenshi-sama want to see me? After all, I am a little medical-nin.”

“Dunno, but I’ve heard grown-ups talking about you,” answered the boy lightly. Then he pointed at a weathered building that was standing in front them. “And here we are! Just walk through the hall and take the elevator. Tenshi-sama is waiting for you at the top. See ya!”

 _This is not funny at all,_ Sakura thought darkly, watching Akitoki and his team jogging away. She couldn’t figure out why on earth an ex-Akatsuki would literally summon a little Konoha missing-nin. This made her unease, as if something was out of control and she had no idea about what was going on.

 _…And this phantom pain, again!_ The petal-haired kunoichi frowned, and then she ventured into the building, her shoulders squared and her strides confident.

Moments later, she found herself standing face to face with Konan, the so-called Tenshi-sama and the leader of Amegakure. Sakura would never forget the day Amegakure joined Allied Shinobi Force. Konan had walked into the Force’s headquarter, showing Amegakure sincerity to cooperate with other shinobi villages. Calmly she provided the Force precious clues on Obito and his insane plan, and then promised a roaring Raikage that Amegakure had had ridden of Obito’s manipulation for good.

“You must be Konan,” Sakura intoned quietly, holding out her hand as a friendly gesture. “I am Haruno Sakura, second apprentice to Godaime Hokage. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier in Allied Shinobi Force.”

“Sakura-san, there’s no need for an apology,” the elder kunoichi took her hand and shook it slightly. “I am Konan, Jiraiya-sensei’s student and the current leader of Amegakure. It is a pleasure to meet you properly. Now have a seat.”

Warily Sakura took her seat. The petal-haired kunoichi knew little about Konan, who had been the solo female member in Akatsuki. Sakura had read about her file in Konoha T&I department before, in which her ability to manipulate papers was mentioned. Paper, emerald eyes fixed on a delicate origami that was decorating Konan’s blue hair.

"With all due respect, Konan-san, I think you should clarify your motivation of inviting a Konoha missing-nin into Amegakure."

Her heat skipped a bit when she saw a peculiar light flashed through Konan's amber eyes. She leapt to her feat in response, hands glowing with deadly chakra scalpels.

"There is no need for you to be such alarming. Amegakure and her shinobi mean you no harm, Sakura-san. Please sit down," said Konan softly. "You are worrying about worry Akatsuki’s ambush but your worry is unnecessary. Akatsuki had fallen apart the moment Nagato gave up his life to redeem our wrong doings."

Bright emerald stared into smothering amber. Sakura prod for any hidden hostility behind Konan's smooth expression. There was none. Yet the blue-haired kunoichi did have something in hand.

"Who is Nagato?" Sakura asked, yet the other female looked as patient as a good-tempered big sis...  _Fine, I'm a little overacting._  Sighing, she sat down and dispelled her chakra scalpels.

"He was my partner, the former leader of Amegakure. To the outside world, his name was Pein."

Pein, the name evoked fear in Konoha, and loathing, if she dared say. Pein was the man who had reduced the village to a shamble within seconds, killing hundreds just because he wanted to lure Naruto out. Then Naruto stepped on stage and chased Pein out of the village. No one knew exactly what had happened between Naruto and his opponent, nevertheless Pein revived all the Konoha residents and then died from chakra exhaustion.  _Naruto's words always work like a charm,_ she thought bitterly,  _but_ Sasuke  _never listen to him._

Sakura fixed her eyes on the other kunoichi, noticing the tension on her shoulders. _Well, Konan doesn’t feel comfortable talking about her deceased partner_. But she didn't apologize; instead, she voiced her second question

"If Ame isn't aiming at the bounty over my head, what do you want from me?"

"Your abilities as a medic and kunoichi," replied Konan quickly. "Ame needs to establish its own medical system and you are the best medic in shinobi world. Plus it'll be very beneficial for Ame if we can win an ANBU-class kunoichi to our side."

"I'm  _not_ staying. And I will never ever share my knowledge with any potential enemy to Konoha."

Hearing this, the other female nodded slightly, as if she had being expecting the refusal. "It is understandable. But please be aware that I am not asking you to join our rank, Sakura-san. All you have to do is to train me some medical-nin. Then, Ame will provide you a safe haven whenever you require one, so long as you do not endanger my village."

 _Should I accept?_  Sakura questioned herself. It was not difficult to figure out the risk. However, would Ame-nin show any sign to capture her, she could always breakout. _Or commit suicide, if the situation calls. One jolt of chakra to the heart then no one can lay his dirty hands on Konoha's secrets._ What’s more, she knew that it was only a matter of time for Amegakure to build up its own medical system. Her participation would only accelerate the process. Haruno Sakura had nothing to lose apart from her head and a grayish scroll in her knapsack. How much worse would accepting Konan’s offer be, comparing to the past two months of being constantly on the run?

"I'm considering." The petal-haired kunoichi replied flatly. "One last question. Your offer is too good for a foreign shinobi. Why me? Why not go and help Naruto? Both of you were Jiraiya-sama's apprentices, were you not?"

Hearing this, Konan raised her delicate eyebrows. "Nagato believed in Naruto, but in reality, personal charisma and optimism are not password in high places."

Sakura wanted to retort, but what could she say?  _On battlefield, Naruto can turn a foe into a friend, no matter how bad the situation is. In conference room, his ability to deal with unfriendly outlanders is a downright dismal._  Sakura bit her lips as she recalled those numerous attempts the blond shinobi made, to persuade an unrepentant Uchiha.  _What can he do if Sasuke doesn't_ want _to be saved?_

"Besides, Yahiko and Nagato's will is shared by many other shinobi-including you-making it easier to fulfill the dream of peace.”

"We are shinobi, Konan-san, and there is no absolute peace in this world of constant competition. That's period."

"Perhaps. Yet it is also true that one can try his best to make the world as closer to peace as possible. That had been the ultimate goal of Nagato, and I assume you are well on your way towards it."

Sakura shuddered. The notion of her sharing a same dream with Pein was way too much for her sanity. Therefore, she grabbed on the first thing propped into her mind, praying of a change in the topic.

"No comment on… flowers of hope?"

Konan merely smiled at her words. Not the large grin belonged to Naruto but a tiny gentle smile that reminded Sakura so much of Shizune. The knowing look, the tilt of lips and the soft gaze… _the smile a sister gives to her confused sibling._

"No, there is none," The blue-haired kunoichi replied gently, her voice tinted with amusement. "Before we making the official arrangement, let me show you around Amegakure, the Hidden Village of Rain."

* * *

Konan had been agreeable and courteous while guiding Sakura through the maze-like streets of Amegakure, however, it was the exact hospitable made Sakura faltered. And by night, she was offered a small suite in the upper section of central tower, much to her bewilderment. The petal-haired kunoichi thought about Konan's intention over and over again, but in the end, she had to presume that Konan just wanted to keep an eye on her, which was most likely to be part of the truth.

 _One can't be_ this  _generous to a stranger._ Sakura knew that she needed to figure out what Konan wanted from her apart from her medical knowledge, however, she was too exhausted to do anything other than collapse on that soft, lulling bed after a shower, which she actually did.

Exhaling softly, the petal-haired kunoichi checked the traps and chakra barrier she set before taking out the mysterious scroll. Gingerly she placed it on the white duvet, fully prepared to run a thorough check on this seemingly ordinary thing.

It was a standard storage scroll that every Konoha-nin could purchase. _Of course, Shikamaru will not leave any significant mark on a scroll for a missing-nin._ Sakura peeled the sealing tag off and poured her chakra in to the inner hidden seal. To her surprise, she sensed several chakra mingling in it, six, to be accurate. Apart from Ino, the younger and the older generation of Ino-Shika-Cho had contributed their chakra, while the remaining one represented the stern-voiced squad leader who had thrown her the scroll.

 _Why don’t they send me a message scroll if they have something to tell me?_  

Message scrolls were small and light, while the storage scrolls were larger, less convenient to be carried around. She recalled the scroll Naruto used during Fourth Shinobi World War, which had been so large that the ex-Jinchūriki had to carry it on his back. She looked at the grayish scroll again, emerald eyes narrowed slightly.

_Dragon, horse, hare, snake, dragon, dog, bird._

Her hands raced through the hand seals with familiarity, each movement meticulous and graceful. When she reached the ninth, Sakura paused, held her breathe and watched.

Subtly on the surface, thin lines of blue-green emerged. In less than a heartbeat, the faint lines grew wider into thin chakra threads, and then vanished, revealing the intricate patterns that served as the inner part of Genbu Fūin. In the middle section of the scroll, an empty circle appeared.

With a speed that would make Kakashi proud, the petal-haired kunoichi performed the remaining hand seals.  _Ox, boar, rat, snake again..._  She curled her right hand into a half-Ram and positioned it above the circle, her left hand made a half Yang Water seal.

"Kai!"

The glowing kanji of "water" appeared in the center of the circle. Jolts of chakra released from the Fūin, and then all those delicate lines dissolved like snow.

Sakura unrolled the scroll, inhaled sharply as three more scrolls fell out. One of them was larger than the other two.

 _For kami's sake, two of them are sealed by_ _Seiryu Fūin!_  

Seiryu, the Azure Dragon of East, Shikamaru and her had used its title to name their second seal. Seiryu Fūin was most suitable to seal away ANBU documents and any other secrets one didn't want outsiders to lay a finger on. The petal-haired kunoichi breathed out a shaky sight, then picked up one of the two scrolls and unsealed it with ease.

It was a message scroll this time, written by those who had made the seal. The first message was short, no more than a few sentences. Hi, Sakura! Shikamaru tells you have to leave Konoha for now. It read.  _You get to take something with you. Eat well. Everything will be fine. Chōji._

Under it were messages from the older generation of Ino-Shika-Cho. Yamanaka Inoichi mainly focused on the psychological tactics dealing with hunter-nin, while Akimichi Chōza provided her with several fancy ways on disguising (like how to change one’s body shape). Nara Shikaku's writing was the most elegant one among the trio. With his perfect penmanship, he informed her that Tsunade had relocated the entire collection of Konoha confidential documents to Nara compound in light of any political upheaval after the war. Now that Sasuke began to search for those documents, he decided to send the archive to her, alongside with a scroll Godaime left her.

 _Tsunade-shishou…_  Emerald eyes welled up with tears. How Sakura missed her mother of all but blood! Hell, she would give her all in exchange for one more afternoon helping the female Hokage fight against those mountainous piles of paperwork. She felt like crying, but the Slug Sannin had taught her better.  _Crying is of no use, you get to do the right things in the right time._ She swallowed her tears and somehow managed to read on.

"You should change your fighting tactics. During our time in ANBU, you mainly focused on taijutsu and medical jutsu… Since you do not have anyone looking after your back now, you need to be careful. Your monstrous strength may give away your trail. So try some genjutsu and use your katana more often..."

These elegant handwritings belonged to Neji. The Hyūga heir had also retold his uncle's words: refrain from confronting Konoha shinobi in Fire's territory-this will help her regain her previous statue.

Shikamaru's massage was at the bottom of the scroll. Before scanning the long massage, Sakura made a mental note to teach the younger Nara a lesson on "not to give away your handiwork this easy". Shikamaru explained the nasty situation caused by the most troublesome Hokage ever in Konoha, the reason why he deemed it better to send her the top-secret files, and bided her farewell. He also mentioned that the unsealed scroll was from her mentor, Godaime Hokage.

Why did shishou leave her a scroll? What made the she decide not to give the scroll to her directly? Did the Slug Sannin foresee her death?

Heart pounding wildly, the petal-haired kunoichi picked up the unsealed scroll and opened it. The first thing she noticed was a summoning diagram that occupied most of the paper. The lines were of deep red, with a brownish tint to them.

_They are written in blood._

_Blood seals can only be activated by the receivers' blood. This feature makes those techniques bloody useful when it comes to hide things._  Her mentor once remarked casually during a lunch break after one hectic morning of paperwork, with a flask of sake in her hand, a rumbling Shizune on her right...

 _Stop it! You shall not dwell in the past!_  Sakura screamed inwardly. If she exhausted herself because of  _crying_ , she would be completely vulnerable. A little light-headed, she swallowed a soft cry and forced herself to inspect the scroll again. And there, aside from the claret patterns, was only a line of fierce scribbles at the bottom.

"The time has come. I leave my medic journal and the Scroll of Seals to you. Use them well."

Something blocked Sakura’s version and made the entire world blur. They poured out from within, grazed her chins, and melted in her mouth. They were salty, and bitter, like the taste of grief, anguish, and the heartbreak.

She cried into her hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 4687  
> Last Revised on: 2015/11/20  
> \------  
> Next Chapter: Winter Days in Rain


	3. Winter in Rain

Bright emerald eyes started at five colorful vials on the table. If the second vial to the right turned clear in three minutes, Sakura could conclude that the antidote she made could work fine and save her patient.

 _Howe dramatic life can be,_ Sakura mused as she waited the clock ticking away time. Not long before she was stuck to the belief that Amegakure was her foe and any sane Konoha medical-nin should not volunteer to save its men. But now, after two months in exile and one week in Amegakure, she was allowed to purchase shinobi tools and to use a small laboratory that once belonged to a certain Uzumaki Nagato.

Sakura glanced at the vials again. This time, one of them was as clear as liquid crystal while the others were still turbid. Satisfied, she noted down her ideas and reflections in meticulous calligraphy. Then she closed her medic journal and strode out the room, fetching the newly-made antidote on her way.

She wondered how Akitoki was doing. The ninja boy who had led her to Ame was now studying the art of healing under her instructions, along with another girl named Yumi. Although Sakura had trained nurses and interns back in Konoha, teaching two little kids and nurturing their skills were new experience. Not to mention their precociousness due to warfare, both Akitoki and Yumi were gifted in chakra control, which was a necessity for a medical-nin.

My! Both of them can generate healing chakra after a week’s study. The petal-haired kunoichi thought. Then she reached a ward where her little students were looking after her patient, an unlucky Ame chūnin who had got himself poisoned. Quietly she stepped in, gathered a small amount of chakra at her eyes in order to read the patient’s file across the room. She scanned the record and found the chūnin had been doing well, much to her satisfaction.

In Sakura’s peripheral version, Akitoki sprang up from his seat and dashed to her with a huge grin. She smiled and ruffled his maroon hair in response.

“Akitoki-chan, you go and prepare a form for our patient. As for you, Yumi-chan, you will do the injection.”

The petal-haired kunoichi ordered, then handed the little vial with antidote to the girl. After Yumi finished, she ran a check on the patient then gestured the kids to get out with her.

“Okay kids, this is the first time you have ever been in touch with a patient. How do you feel?”

“It is so easy, Sakura-sensei,” replied Akitoki.

“Humph, and you, Yumi-chan?”

The girl hesitated for a moment before shaking her head slightly. “I am kind of nervous. I doubt if I inject the antidote into the right area. Blood vessels are difficult to find, you said so, sensei.”

“You are right Yumi-chan,” Sakura nodded. “Finding target blood vessel is important during injections and transfusing. Akitoki-chan, do you know every patient needs a clipboard no matter how?”

“Cause good medic shall record his patients’ behave in order to study their behaviors”

“Right. Seemingly small deceased may develop into fatal one. Many people don’t know whether they are allergic to certain drugs or not. And the incubation period for tetanus is about 10 days…” Sakura paused for a moment, realizing that she was talking too much and didn’t leave the kids enough time to think. Therefore she moved on to another topic.

“We have about 15 minutes before our first patient needed another investigation. And we shall wait here just in case. Now, I will check your homework. If you did read the herb encyclopedia carefully, I will show you the basic steps of antidote making…”

Sakura lectured her two students, whiling waiting outside the room. Her voice echoed in the building, soothing and calm, which wasn’t new to this village full of rain and metallic edifices.

* * *

 Konan was a nice kunoichi.

The friendship between she and Sakura started on one chilling afternoon when they ran into each other in a small kitchen.

“Hm... Konan-san, would you please pass me that salt shaker?” asked Sakura when trying to cook herself some Takoyaki. She deemed it too weird to prepare food without talking to the only other person in the room, and no, Sakura would never admit that she made that request simply due because she didn’t feel like walking to the other end of the room to fetch a salt shaker.

The blue-haired kunoichi set aside her tea cup and then silently handed over the salt shaker. “What are you cooking? Seems good,” she watched Sakura preparing a small bowl of mayonnaise with great interest.

“It’s Takoyaki, one of my favorite snacks, though I can rarely have one,” replied Sakura, wiping her sweat away. “Say, what kind of food do you like? You know, Naruto is a helpless ramen idiot and he can’t eat spicy food. We used to add chilli into his ramen bowl and he literally pouted the entire bowl into his mouth, and it turned out…” She halted suddenly.

“Since your Takoyaki smells too good for a busy kunoichi, I’d like to borrowing a page from you, if you don’t mind.”Konan shuffled away the subject, amber eyes fixed on the sticky mayonnaise sauce in the cooking pan. “You know, my sole source of snack is a small, old-fashioned tavern five miles away. And it keeps selling Natto for years.”

Sakura blinked. She could see Konan brooding as the older kunoichi was showing her unpleasant that was akin to the expression Tsunade-shishou wore each time Shizune hid her sake away.

 _Well, well, food is all that matters. Of course Konan prefers rich spectacular food just as I would never lay a finger on soldier pills unless situation calls… I’m so glad that I can cook_ and _cook well._

It was understandable that a delicacy-hungry Konan and a good cook Sakura quickly became familiar with each other. There were no girl talks about brooding handsome boys between the two more or less matured kunoichi, instead, together they did the things every professional shinobi did-training, sparring, making meals, chatting over tea, as well as changing intelligence.

“Here, you may need this.” Konan handed her an article of clothing. It was a thick grey cloak made from wool.

“Thanks Konan, you are so charming,” Sakura beamed, putting on the cloak. “But you will not give me such a beautiful cloak without reason. Why? Are you suggesting me an upgrade of my ninja tools?”

“In all probability, I am subtly asking you for a favor,” replied Konan. “I’d like to keep track on the case but as you know, we have a rule since long ago that they would not meddle with the land。So I come to you for help.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow in curiosity and shrugged, “to be frank, Konan, you know I do not carry out missions from Ame.”

Konan sighed softly, as if saying “I know you’d say that”, then showed Sakura a small handbook with black-cover. “Congratulation, Haruno Sakura, you are now enlisted in Konoha’s Bingo Book with a significant amount of bounty.”

“…Well, that’s pretty sad.” The petal-haired kunoichi replied dryly, fighting not to break down. Warily she took the handbook and flipped through the pages in search of her own profile. And here was her portrait, along with her background information and ninja skills’ assessment. The bounty for her head was as high as 1,677,000.

 _Oh, should you not be surprised, Sakura, you know Sasuke-kun would do this from day one._ The petal-haired kunoichi thought sarcastically. _All he ever wanted is to drive everybody away. Now, I will be a little rich girl once I turn myself in…_

She grimaced at this notion.

“Fine, at least I’m treated like someone worth a kill,” she looked into Konan’s amber eyes. “Nevertheless, being listed in a Bingo Book does not necessary lead to your purpose in coming. What’s next?”

“It’s about the Ten-Tailed beast.” Konan pulled out a scroll and unrolled it on the table before them. It was a map, with varies red dots scattering randomly in the central region. “Here in the Land of Iron, several animal attacks occurred since winter came. All victims were dead on scene except for one, a civilian farmer who had struggled to describe the attackers before breathing his last: White, large bears with a sole red eye. The local affirmed that it was someone’s nin pet.”

“Of course it was not some fluffy nin pets!” Sakura literally squealed her voice sharp and stressed. “For kami’s sake, there is only one type of creature with a lone eye and that is Ten-Tails!”

“That creature was not Ten-Tails, this is for sure. It is safe to presume that the attacker might be Ten-Tails’ clone.”

Sakura glared at the map lying innocently under her nose. Apart from being furious, she was scared. The Ten-tailed beast had contributed to the major causalities of the Force. With one Tailed Beast Ball it could reduce mountains into ashes and its shrieks were deadly as well. Indeed Naruto had defeated Ten-tails on battlefield, however, that ugly beast had dissolved into countless mini Ten-tails the moment the nine tailed beasts were set free.

“So, we didn’t wipe out those ugly bastards before fighting inside our own? And now they have returned and began to kill.” She forced out a hollow laugh, “what a charm.”

Konan sighed, “These attacks took place in Iron, and Iron is a neutral country from the beginning…”

“Which means it can declare war once they found shinobi lurking on its land. Yes, I got it.” The petal-haired kunoichi knew that she was technically a missing-nin affiliated to none and being a missing-nin, her behaviors—like sneaking into the heart of a neutral country and then unfortunately being caught—had nothing to do with village politic.

_Well, this makes me serviceable. Staying in one place for too long really makes me moldy…_

“Tell me more about your little request, Konan. I will set off from Ame as soon as possible”

* * *

  _It didn’t take Sakura too long to figure out what was going on in the Land of Iron. Some mini Ten-Tails, or Ten-Tails miniature clones to be exact, had emerged from thin air and hunted in the wild. And due to the lack of animals in winter days, poor local peasants were targeted and killed. The petal-haired kunoichi had followed an intermittent trial of dead dears and other small animals into the snow mountain near a small civilian he coldest days._

_And she found them._

_A pack of furless, chalky, lone-eyed beasts chasing after blood. They were in the shapes of bear, giant wolves and abstract ~~human~~ alien sculpture Deidara would make. Despite their inability to detect chakra flow, these clones were lethal enemies of civilians because of the wick they had displayed during previous war._

_Sakura was stunned at first, staring disbelief until a cat-like mini clone hurled one of its tails at her. Heart beating like a drum, the kunoichi quickly ended the clones’ lives (if they could be regarded as living things) with her chakra scalpel. Then she performed a thorough search in the region, found nothing but a faint chakra signature miles away in the north. Sakura checked her map, it was located somewhere in the Three Wolves Mountains, the heart of Iron, where the Kage Summit took place almost three years before._

“You made the right choice, Iron had increased their men patrolling the day you left Ame. You’d probably get caught if you kept searching.” With a flask of sake in hand, Konan sat relaxing a cross the table.

“So… are you trying to say that I should stop poking around in Three Wolves Mountains? Why. Is there anything I missed during my previous trip?” inquired Sakura, taking a tiny sip of her green tea as she watched the older kunoichi ordered another bottle of sake.

The petal-haired kunoichi had just accompanied Konan patrolling around Ame, and they were now sitting in a cozy tavern Konan usually stopped by with drinks and snacks. Despite the peace of the village and the pleasure spending time with Konan and her two students, Sakura felt her soul caged, and the urge of _going out of here_ was yearning loud.

“Not exactly, however there is one certain thing that will certainly shake the entire world.” Konan paused, twitching her lips oddly. “Do you remember the Taki-nin you me on your return trip? They were not shinobi on duty, but refugee”

“What?!”

“Their village is gone, Takigakure collapsed less than two weeks ago.” Konan said evenly, her amber eyes bright and sharp. Nobody can be specifically responsible for the fall of Takigakure. Instead of being defeated from the outside, it was broken inside.

“We all know Taki was among the small shinobi villages that signed peace treaties at the end of Fourth Shinobi World War. But treaty could not guarantee peace. Soon all shinobi villages were running out of money because of crop failures and price upswing, and Takigakure suffered. A long-lasting depression reduced that village into empties houses surrounded by trees and rivers… Shibuki had no else to choose but to dissolve Taki. It’s said he had undersold several ninjutsu scrolls for immediate cash.”

The petal-haired kunoichi cast a dark look at Konan, who was behaving oh-so-unconcerned. " I reckon you have already allocated all those scrolls and stored them in your archive." Her previous statue in Konoha had granted her a better access to T&I documents, helping her to map out Takigakure’s condition. In fact, when she was serving Konoha ANBU, the petal-haired once received a mission directly from Konoha council.

_"It is for the village's good."_

Sakura could still recall the cold indifferent tone when Kakashi questioned the council’s order. Kakashi had insisted that Konoha ANBU should never in hell detonate a mountain just because they wanted to finish off Yakushi Kabuto. But what did Elder Utatane said? Bury that young filthy snake alive.

In the end, Sakura and her ANBU team did bury Kabuto under tons of rocks and dirt, but most importantly, the mountain they fractured was part of the natural barrier of Takigakure.

_And then… it only took two years to bring down a shinobi village._

Living in guilt was useless, she had to remind herself. Better do something else other than feeling shame…

“Shibuki, is he in his late twenties with dark brown hair?” She tapped on the table, pale fingers making a lulling rhyme as she searched her memory for a particular Taki-nin. “You know, six year ago I’ve escorted him from Konoha to Taki. He should have made jōnin now.”

“Yes, he is. He had to be powerful in order to lead a shinobi village without too many voices against him. You know, Taki was known for frequently producing skilled jōnin long before the war,” Konan chuckled softly.

“One of Akatsuki missing-nin was from Taki as well. It took Konoha a lot to bring him down. Five hearts, you know it.”

“Ah… Kakazu. He used to the treasurer of Akatsuki and such a precious miser.”

Sakura rolled her eyes in silent disgust, before she took a solid bite on her Takoyaki ball. There was an incredible irony in the fact that she was chatting with a former Akatsuki as a missing-nin from Konoha, while their topic centered on a village where the murder of Sandaime's son came from.

_Think about the brighter side, Sakura, Kakazu and his freak of criminal friends are dead thorough and thorough. Even Orochimaru is unwilling to use Impure World Reincarnation again, for the weakness of that technique is deadly, isn't he?_

Grimacing inwardly, the petal-haired kunoichi swallowed the Natto in her mouth before she turned on Konan again.

“I am curious. How can Takigakure control its jinchūriki? I mean, after his father’s death, Shibuki didn’t have any relative. There is no such practice like selecting a host from the leader’s family.”

The older kunoichi raised her brows at this inquiry. “As you may have figured out, Takigakure was a peculiar village considering their attitude towards tailed beast. Even people in high places believed that tailed beast are messengers of demon and jinchūriki was ominous and their power should never be used. As a result, the host of Seven-Tails was a poor orphan girl who had been hated and neglected by the majority.” Konan let out a sigh, her eyes glistening. “Deidara and Sasori brought her to our base about two months before targeting on Godaime Kazekage. That girl… she came on her on will and wished for a final rest.

Leading a life of a shinobi is like playing a chess game. At first, the chess player makes the tiles moving here and there, feeling great as everything is happening just as you wish. Then, when the ending is near, the chess player will finally realize that he is part of the chase game instead of someone watching it from outside.”

“Every decision we made will more or less determine how things develop on earth, and there is no taking back.” The petal-haired kunoichi spoke immediately, “Konan, have you feel sorry for all the jinchūriki died in Akatsuki’s cold damp cavern. Amegakure…”

“Amegakure is and will atone though solid work, for eloquences is hollow and the so-called treaties are weak.” The older kunoichi slightly raised her voice. And she answered Sakura with a stern look. “As for myself, Sakura, I don’t jinchūriki deserved their fates, and in the same time, I am not guilty about the things Nagato and I had done before, instead, I feel remorse.”

“So what? Peoples are dying out there. And there is a village collapsed.”

“I am playing my role good and fair, as the leader of Ame to always keep an eye on our world,” replied Konan. “Sakura, you know what I am doing now is necessary. I am spying on other villages like every others doing, albeit more systematic and precise. Then what about you? What are you going to become?”

“I...” Sakura tried to fight back, but she lost her words.

_You are merely a civilian girl playing ninja games._

Sasuke’s merciless mocking and Naruto’s silhouette began to flash back, and all those humiliation she received as a child kept echoing in her head and they made her sick.

 _What the hell can you do, Sakura-chan?_ She shut her eyes and screamed in silent, desperately searching for some relive. _Be a good little civilian girl and run a clinic? Play hide and seek with hunter-nin for the rest of her life?_

_But I am unwilling to be someone like that._

_I am observant, always curious, gifted in chakra control. I have mastered Tsunade’ skills and I have been trained to be a great medical-nin every since I turned twelve, and I have mastered everything Tsunade showed me. I was one of Konoha elite shinobi and its ANBU member. I can fight as good as I can heal._

_I am neither Uchiha Sasuke nor Uzumaki Naruto, yet still the pink-haired girl Haruno Sakura is excellent in my own way._

She kept her eyes closed until she calmed down and found her voice again.

“You are right,” She whispered. “I, I get to be myself. The world is so big，I am not going to box myself in… Konan, do you think it possible for me to travel around the world while hunting down missing-nin for bounty?”

For a moment Konan was silent, staring at the young kunoichi whose cheeks were on fire due to embarrassment. “Traveling is good. While visiting every corner of shinobi world, you will discover the dark side of humanity as well as kindness and good will. And I believe you can make a small difference each time you stop, and then in the end, a lot of things can be changed.” She halted, amber eyes fixed on a distant spot in the cold rain outside. “Wait and see, justice will prevail and peace will dawn.”

* * *

 For the rest of the meal neither Konan nor Sakura talked much. In the end, the petal-haired kunoichi started to listen to the pitter-patter of the falling rain while savoring the delicate taste of mayonnaise. It was rain drops instead of snowflakes.

_Spring is coming. Then everything wakes up and blooms._

When Konan finished her third battle of sake, the two kunoichi put on their cloak and walked out the wooden tavern. Sakura looked back and noticed a white teru teru bozu grinning from ear to ear beside the window.

“By the way, will you please do me a favor?” Konan’s soft voice rang by her ear. “When Shibuki selling his ninjutsu scrolls to me, he mentioned seeing some Ten-tails’ clones in the Land of Birds.”

“Well, that is interesting.” The petal-haired kunoichi tilted her head. It was a good thing Konan was more open to her and surely she would return this. After all, one couldn’t always be this lucky to find such a friend. “I will go and have a look. Can you tell me something news about Birds right now?”

“Of course. The Land of Birds is a small country without shinobi village. Because it barely depends on ninja, Brids is now in relative peace if you can ignore their pressing economic crisis," replied Konan quickly. "If Ten-Tails' clones do exist, their ranges are limited into a few places, for they are not seen by civilians so far. You can go search for information freely after we returned to the village."

Emerald eyes glinted. The Land of Birds did not possess enough strategic value to earn an access to an ANBU archive. Therefore, Konan’s words were simply another way of opening her personal collections to Sakura. _You have someone to give your trust to, Sakura-chan._ There was a warm sensation gathering at the pit of her stomach, surging through her veins until it reached the very end of her fingertips.

"Well, it's very generous of you." The petal-haired kunoichi tightened her slate gray cloak around her, smirking at the other kunoichi like a fox.

"Now Tenshi-sama, race me back to the village."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 3690  
> Last Revised on: 2015/12/11  
> Next Chapter: Tavern in Bird


	4. Tavern in Bird

   It wasn't as hard as she imagined, carrying out mission as Haruno Sakura, not as one of the best kunoichi in a village or a Konoha ANBU operator. And here she was, dressing like a young samurai, walking a wooden carriage in which her current clients resting.

    She had crossed path with a civilian caravan near the south-west boarder of Birds, ten days after she left Ame. At that time, the kunoichi had investigated most of the regions on her check-list of no-man area, and she was glad to find out there was nothing extraordinary. She chatted with a kind beautiful lady called Mayumi, wife to the civilian merchant Takanashi Sasaki. They talked about the eleven culinary uses of rosemary as well as the latest fashion in the Land of Bird. It was hard to imagine civilian girls paint their faces white and colored their top lips only when working as geisha. What’s more, all those local snacks sounded too good to not wondering how delicious they were. And before Sakura knew it, she was escorting the civilian caravan and dressed like an ordinary samurai because the Takanashi couple preferred _not to deal with shinobi_.

 _So young, so naive, Sakura-chan, being bribed with a small sum. You'd better be careful when dealing with wit._  The kunoichi chided inwardly, half teasing, half annoyed.  _It is only by luck their destination isn't far from mine..._

    "Oda-san, the town is near." She heard Mayumi said in the carriage, that chiming voice revealing the civilian's delight. Sakura sighed. Soon her escort mission would be over, after that she could have a small rest before moving to her last destination, the abandoned Shirakawa Shrine four miles eastward from here.

    Much to her own awkwardness, the petal-haired kunoichi would flee from the Takanashi couple after her mission completed. She dare not stay with those sophisticated civilians any longer, not knowing what was waiting her if she did.

_Perhaps, there will be a year-long position to assure their safety, as well as running errands._

Moments later she checked into one of the local taverns, a nice place with the smell of sake, bamboo grove and geisha's sachets wafting in the cool spring air. The room she acquired was on the second floor, away from the merry-making crowds. She closed the door and set up a few traps before marching towards the bathroom. Her muscles groaned happily as the kunoichi enjoyed her long soothing bath.

_It's sunset._

    Staring at the far horizon through the windowpane, Sakura suddenly felt lonely. Feeling alone wasn't like the solitary she used to enjoy in Konoha library, it made the small hotel room empty and silent. She directed her gaze to the katana she had been carrying for the past four days.     Yes, it was a katana, not the sort of tantō commonly used by Konoha-nin. Twenty-four inches long and three finger widths, this tamahagane sword was a present from Tsunade when Sakura turned fourteen, to celebrate her chūnin promotion.

    Gingerly the kunoichi took out a fluffy powder ball, dusted the curved slender blade as she recalled another gift she received from the blond Hokage.

_I still don't understand why shishou gave me a summoning instead of slug. After all, Katsuyu's healing ability is most helpful for a medical-nin._

    She loved her personal summons dearly, and they were the best partners she could ask for. But still... she was a little lost because she had lost another similarity with her beloved master.

    A cuckoo chirped outside and its song reminded Sakura of the local dishes Takanashi Mayumi recommended. Picking up the katana, she stood up and went down to the ground floor for dinner.

* * *

 

    The food was surprisingly tasty, however, the most entertaining thing for Sakura was being offered a drink due to her samurai dressing style.

    Smiling faintly, she picked up her chopsticks, fully intended to have a bit on one of those sauced Takoyaki. Just then, a peculiar chakra signature appeared in her mind's eye. Delicate hand reached for the carved handle of her katana as the signature approaching the civilian town, the local tavern and... Sakura lifted her gaze from her dessert and watched, as a blond Kumo-nin landed on the bench opposite to her.

    "It seems like you are in good health, _samurai-san_."

 _You'd better not calling me like that._ Dark green pupils dilated at the words. Her unexpected guest was Kumo jōnin C, who was a sensor type shinobi, a ninjutsu master as well as a medical-nin, one of Raikage's bodyguards during the recent five Kage summit. Sakura knew him personally, for C and she had worked together as field medic three years ago.

    "It's Oda, Oda Sakuya." The kunoichi said coolly, keeping her face as stoic as she could manage. "What brings you here, C?"

    Apparently, C was not at all bothered by Sakura's coldness. The jōnin shrugged nonchalantly, pulled out his kunai and then prick an octopus ball. "You won't believe me if I say I'm just passing by, will you?"

    "No, but I sincerely hope you are not looking for me."

    "Unfortunately so, Sakuya-san, Raikage-sama did send me for you."

_Raikage has sent him out._

_Kumo is hunting me._

    The idea that struck her felt like an ice pick slamming into her back. Why? Why were they trying to keep tag on her? What did Kumogakure want from her, a mere kunoichi on the run? Were they aware of the scrolls she possessed and now trying to rap them from her? And...

_HELL NO! I shall not die, not here, and definitely not now._

    Sakura tightened her grip on her sword hilt. Her chakra was gradually awakened, surging through her veins, accumulating in her arms. Not that she suspected C of sudden attack, on the contrary, Sakura had ascertained the jōnin's self-discipline and unswerving loyalty towards his Kage and village, which had made him a thorny opponent if he had resolved to capture her.

The eerie silence between the two shinobi made C heave. He sat his kunai aside, wrapping it clean with a serviette before turning to the kunoichi directly. "I know you've been expelled, sorry to hear that." He kept his voice low, not wanting their conversation being heard by other customers. "As you see, Kumogakure wants to recruit you."

    "Recruit me because I used to be Tsunade's apprentice?" replied Sakura sharply. C's words reminded her of Konan, and her confession when they first met.  _Humph, I never know a little medical-nin can be this popular in the shinobi world..._

    "Don't be so aggressive, for I haven’t finished my words yet. Why not listen to Kumo's offer patiently? I suppose you still treasured the days in the Force as well as I do."

 _He means my forehead protector. But how? I didn't wear it while escorting the Takanashi couple._  The kunoichi mulled over C's words, trying hard to read between the lines.  _There shouldn't be much people know the change, making my status impossible to get... Use your brain, Sakura-chan, use your brain and find out an explanation for his words._

    And that damn tickling sensation reappeared after months of absence, nevertheless Sakura ignored it, for her brain had just fed her an explanation.  _Oh good kami-sama, is he trying to say that I have being watched from day one?_

    Her heart skipped a bit.

    Sakura tried to keep her voice steady when speaking, although she failed miserably because of a choked out "Thanks".

 _Inhale, hold, count to ten, exhale._  She kept her mouth shut until the sense humiliating given by C's half sympathetic gaze was more or less unbearable, and then she whispered her answer. "Thank you, but no. I was Godaime Hokage's assistant, so it's inappropriate for me to join another shinobi village. But anyhow, your gesture is greatly appreciated."

    C didn't reply at once, and when he began to speak, his facial expression betrayed nothing of his thought.

    "When Raikage-sama asked me to recruit you, I foresaw your refusal. After all, the Slug Princess had been a tough kunoichi, and I can see that you had inherited her willpower." Then he paused, pulling a tiny genuine smile to the kunoichi in disguise. Though the faint curve hugging his lips was almost invisible, it reminded Sakura of her days fighting in the Allied Shinobi Force, of the joy and relief they field medics exchanged each time they brought a comrade back from the brink of death.

    "This leads us to solution two. Decades ago, Kumo didn't treat Tsunade-sama as an adversary when she was out of Konoha; right now, the seniors in our village decide to take one step forward."

    Sakura raised her pink eyebrows in silent curiosity. Once she calmed down, she had begun to suspect the real intention of Kumo, which was very unlikely to be killing her off. She was a little taken aback when C spoke again, albeit she had prepared herself for varies kinds of response.

"The time has changed. We have been fighting side by side in against a shared foe, bleeding and dying for a shared future. Now that the enemy was slain and post-war crises break out, Kumogakure no Sato is ready to face the uncertainty and to explore a new way for shinobi village..."

    Sakura dared to say, judging from the absence of his aplomb look, that C was reciting a bureau document. His intonation has been perfected by constant practice.  _Poor man, he must have read the material ten times or more!_

    "Quit smirking. That's the first paragraph of Mabui's address. Every Kumo jōnin has to read it aloud every other day. It's for dissemination usage, but I'm not going to recite the whole text here." C murmured grimly, his black piercing eyes pined on Sakura until the kunoichi shook her head in agreement.

    The kunoichi passed the blond jōnin some sake, her lips twitched as she imaging the usually reserved shinobi reading an inspiring text.

    "We have three proposals for you, each will lead to mutual benefits. One, we will provide you a list of missing-nin and we shall double the bounty if you hand over any listed shinobi to Kumogakure, dead or alive. No time limit will be set, and you're free to choose whether to hunt down those criminals down or not—all we want is to reduce the likelihood our traitor becoming other villages' captivate.

    "You being Tsunade-sama's pupil contribute to our second proposal. We require your support in poison and antidote making, as well as in shinobi tools supplement. As you can see, resources are running short after the war ended because the lack of manpower to produce them. However, you may produce some high-quality product between, humph, your flexible schedule. Never mind the quality issue, your high reputation and my medical knowledge can guarantee the trade going smoothly. As for the last proposal…" C halted, refining his words then continued carefully. "Kumo may need your help if it has patient requiring intensive care, in exchange, we can reveal our medical knowledge partially to you, and the two of us can do some researches together..."

    Sakura chuckled as his voice trailed away. "Is the last proposal from Kumogakure or from Kumo shinobi C?"

    "From me of course. If you decide to accept Kumo's offers, I will be the middleman between you and my village... You used to have plenty of researchers to turn to for academic talks, but imagine my annoyance when dealing with a project all alone."

    "Oh my, that sounds horrible." Sakura commented kindly, removing her hand from her sword hilt.

_You see, things can take a turn to better._

    The kunoichi told herself firmly as she called the waiter to add a few more dishes for C. From there on, their words became less probing, mainly focused on their interest exchange. Sakura was not all surprised at the fact that the blond jōnin had been carrying the aforementioned list of missing-nin, and she quested teasingly if C preferred a Kumo-exclusive tag on the parcels.

"As much as I wish for that, it is unrealistic. But anyway, my village is now devoid of being torn up because of an angry kunoichi," C replied casually, wearing his iconic aplomb look. "I've to say goodbye now—it's getting late and Raikage-sama will kill me if I don't return to my village on time. I suppose your animal summons can find me, right?"

    Sakura arched one pink eyebrow. "Yes... Kumo has sent you to run errands?"

    "Don't mention it!"

* * *

 

 _This is going to be helpful once I become a hunter-nin._  Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Sakura flipped through the handbook C had given her. It was actually a selection of Bingo Book, with detailed information on those targeted missing-nin. I'm so glad Kumo decides to spare me from their hunt-down list...

    “Oda-san, your sake.”

    A knocking at the door intruded her thought. Sakura furrowed when she saw a geisha stepped into her room with a tray of porcelain flasks.

_Hell... I don't drink!_

    Sakura eyed the geisha suspiciously for she would never order alcohol to her room, especially when she was in disguise. The geisha was dressed in a colorful kimono, with a matching on her back and white powder applied on her face...

_Wait for a second, there is something wrong with her._

    Sakura peered at the geisha closely, but nothing seemed to be out of ordinary. Her footsteps were light, which could be explained because geisha were required to dance professionally. However…

_Do any other geisha in this tavern color in both lips fully?_

    The petal-haired kunoichi dropped her lids as the geisha put down the tray and set the dishes. She focused on the chakra flow in this room... And there was a brilliant spark just flaring _beside_ her.

    Alarmed, Sakura grabbed her arm and sent in a jolt of chakra to paralyze her. The geisha tried to fight back, but Sakura was faster. With a dull thud as she pinned the geisha down to the hard wooden floor, face up, with a scalpel against her neck and two dislocated shoulders in the iron grip of Sakura.

    The petal-haired kunoichi observed capture closely. As she glared and hissed and struggled to free herself, Sakura gently knelt on her capture spleen. (Splenic rupture may put a healthy individual to death quickly... Remember Sakura's Remember strength?)

    “One wrong move then die,” Sakura whispered in a low voice, pressing the scalpel harder as the geisha struggled more violently.

    “Better to confess than rot in hell. Am I right?”

    The geisha, or the shinobi disguised as a geisha, froze for a second or two then glared at Sakura with fiery grey eyes.

    …Sakura had to admit that he was quit a lady-killer once she ignored his smeared makeup and girlish clothes.

    "I know you are a shinobi and you may now figure out that I am a shinobi as well. In case you overreact and therefore raise more misunderstanding between us, you will not be released until I finish questioning. You can only shake or nod to reply. Any objection?"

    For a moment the shinobi stared at her, then he shook his head.

    “Good, let's get started,” said Sakura. “First off, I am very much sure I don't have any personal enemy who has a fetish for cross-dressing. Who do you work for?”

    “......”

    Sakura smirked, eyes fell on his red kimono with the patterns of blue dragonfly and black cherry. “Don't look me that way. I am not the one who makes you wearing such a girly dress.”

    “......”

    “Were you trying to assassinate me or capture me alive?” Sakura rolled her eyes and questioned.

    Shaking head.

    “Are you aware of who I am?”

    Shaking head again.

    The kunoichi frowned. As a medical-nin Sakura was aware of his sleek muscles, calloused hands and his strange chakra. She couldn't think up a reason why such a shinobi decided to follow a stranger instead of carrying out missions. _And uh, He looks too... upright to be a pervert like Jiraiya._

    Sakura saw his face flashed bright red as though he was trying to say something. “Fine. I'll let you up. You shall stay calm and sensible, for neither of us want to alarm those civilians. Clear?”

    Nodding.

    Sakura dispelled her scalpel and popped his joints into the sockets. Grey eyes watered because of pain, the shinobi finally got a chance to speak.

* * *

 

    “I am sorry, but I can't help but check out to whom that Kumo-nin talked,” said the shinobi. He had taken off that girlish dress and changed back into normal clothes, he didn't remove his makeup though. “I am Muku, no affiliation right now, and I swear I don't kill unless it's an ANBU mission.”

    Sakura cocked an inquisitive eyebrow, “you are an ex-ANBU, but even retired shinobi held their places in their village. So how come you are unaffiliated? Missing-nin?”

    “No,” Muku denied quickly. “I used to be a Kusa shinobi. But I heard the news that my village had collapsed when I returned from my recent mission, so I left and headed for a new life.”

    Sakura was in mild surprise. Another village fell a few weeks after Takigakure dismembered. She knew more or less about Kusagakure and its violent in-fighting, but this guy... “I am sorry to hear that,” she replied dryly, “But I believe you are not traveling alone.”

    The shinobi whistled cheerfully. “A friend of mine keeps me accompanied. We are the best partners ever. Her name is——”

    “Muku. Am I right?” Sakura interrupted. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the jet-haired shinobi tensed visibly. “I read about you two in the Bingo Books. Muku and Ryūzetsu, prodigies of Kusagakure.”

    “……It's unfair. I know nothing about you when you already knew mine.”

    Sakura smiled. “Haruno Sakura, currently unaffiliated as well.”

    The jet-haired shinobi seemed to be surprised when he heard this, but when he looked at Sakura closely, he realized that this young handsome samurai was actually a female. “Aah! Sakura, beautiful beautiful cherry blossoms, this name fits your hair well.”

    “……Since we have already cleared the air, could you be so kind to step out of my room?” Sakura proclaimed, resisting the urge to unsheathe her katana and stab at his handsome face.

    “Not a chance, Haruno. It's serendipity that leads me to you. Neither of us has a village to return to, so why not travel together for some time?”

   Before Sakura could protest, he continued. “It's peculiar that Raikage's right-hand-man and Tsunade's only apprentice alive who is now Konoha's Bingo Book meet at a small tavern and talked. It's even more peculiar when one of you left and the other stayed in this remote civilian town. Why? Because you have something in hand and you wish to carry it clandestinely.”

    “……”

    “And what you are going to do is risky even for shinobi of your caliber. Cause you were avoiding conflicts, and chose to immobilize me with taijutsu instead poison or genjutsu. I am curious about your... affair and I've just decided to follow you.”

    “……”

    “To be frank, having Ryūzetsu and I as your companion can bring you the benefit of having two ANBU-class aides without any harm.”

_It seems I don’t have no good reason to turn his down… damn it!_

   Swallowed down the urge to beat something into a bloody bulb, Sakura tilted her head and looked out of the window. The sun long set, the night sky was beset with myriad stars. _A cloudless night that will bring up a sunny tomorrow, ideal for field work and visiting deserted shrine._

    “Fine, I am here in the Land of Bird because someone told me something strange is happening near the Shirakawa Shrine a few miles and I want some insight. Will you and Ryūzetsu join me tomorrow eight o'clock sharp at the village gate?”

    The shinobi consented gladly and promised to bring Ryūzetsu with him tomorrow. When he went out the room with his quiet manly stride, Sakura bade him goodbye and said:

    “And by the way, Muku-san, you'd better remove your makeup before you go for your partner.”

    “!”


	5. The Five-Tails

The first drop of sun saw Sakura greeted Muku and his companion under the small wooden gate of the town. Refreshed and energetic after a good sleep, she gave the two Kusa-nin a searching look. Though Muku had cleaned himself and dressed smart, Sakura paid more attention to the quiet kunoichi standing next to him. Ryūzetsu was her name, which reminded Sakura of a rare herb named “Agave” she once read in Tsunade’s medical journal. Sure enough, Ryūzetsu’s white long hair was expectantly eye-catching, however, Sakura was more interested in her pearl-white eyes, which irises had ripple-pattern that resembled Pein’s Rinnegan.

“It’s our pleasure to cooperate with you,” said Ryūzetsu quietly as the three of them ran along the bank of Shirakawa. “Muku may seems to be unreliable sometimes but he is as excellent as you can imagine when we get down to business.”

“I hope so,” shoving away the image of Muku’s in girlish clothes, Sakura replied dryly. “You talk as though you are more than a little concern that I’ll leave you aside then work on my own. Seriously, I am only a little medical-nin.”

“Please don’t belittle yourself, Haruno. You should beware that talented medics are precious resources every shinobi village would recruit even during peaceful time. Now as post-war reconstruction proceeds, all of them would recruit you if they had the chance.”

“......Whoa.”

“Most people believe the Hokage has his head all fucked up when the news came out that you’ve been listed into Konoha’s Bingo Book,” chimed Muku.

In a knee-jerk reflex Sakura wanted to speak up for her mentor, yet in the next second she realized that the Hokage Muku mentioned was nobody other than Uchiha Sasuke. Anger exploded deep down in her soul, surged through her vain before finally condensed into a fiery ball in her stomach. Forcefully she swallowed it, locked it down and acted as if it had never existed.

“Oh yes, he is a downright scrum through and through,” she answered curtly and then looked out. Here the river took a sudden turn and headed eastward. And there, between the fading morning stars and soundless woods laid their destination.

* * *

Slowly the three of them climbed up the worn-out stairs. Soft rustles of their scandals against those crispy leaves echoed in the narrow path in the wood.

_It’s too quiet,_ Sakura thought, _even it is winter, there should be small animals instead of emptiness._

To whoever was sane this quietness meant oddity, but Sakura found it kind of familiar as if she had confronted it before…

_Snap!_

Shoulder tensed and fist clenched, she eyed the direction where the noise came from in her peripheral vision. Her heat lost a beat when she discerned silhouettes behind the bushes.

Gulping, the kunoichi spun on her heels. A dark shadow crashed down. Katana drew out, Sakura acted just in time to cut it into two parts. Before its body parts hit the ground, two more targeted on her left flank, but she jumped out and dodged the attack.

Somewhere Muku cursed in his fine pleasing voice, and Sakura saw fire swallowed down several silhouettes. Ryūzetsu was hurt, for Sakura had heard her gasp and smelled fresh human blood. But she could not go and help the Kusa kunoichi out because Sakura was urgent need of someone else to help _her_ out.

Gradually the three of them rounded up in a circle, fighting back to back. When the sun was high in the sky, no more monster was in view and the three of them could finally rest.

_But our cooperation was disastrous in the beginning_ , Sakura leaned against a tree, catching her breath before moving forward. The winter air was dry and cold. Muku and Ryūzetsu were perfect partners, but apparently Sakura was unfamiliar with their skills and fighting style. Kami knew how badly she missed the tactiness with her former partners when her Water Release collided with Muku’s Fire Ninjutsu instead of a mini Ten-Tail three times in a row.

“Let’s head forward now,” said Ryūzetsu after she had treated her wound. Sakura answered offhandedly, for in her range of sensing no living creature existed, not even a sparrow.

* * *

Bathing in the soft sunlight of nine o’clock, Shirakawa Shrine seemed as primitive and mystical as its figure in the folklore spreading in the Land of Bird. Yet this was from civilian’s perception. In Sakura’s eyes, the old wooden door of Shirakawa Shrine was ominous, surrounded by thick, sinister chakra as if a predator was lurking behind.

“For kami’s sake Haruno, from where you dig out this damn little shack?” exclaimed Muku with an exaggerative groan of pain, which earned him a solid hit in the stomach.

“It’s not at all like my imagination,” Sakura murmured faintly, ignoring Muku’s playful posture. She was sure that she had once felt this chakra before. Yet memory was an awfully titillating(mischievous) thing, the harder she tried to retrieve it, the fuzzier it became.

Then she heard Ryūzetsu’s low, soft voice saying: “So what we do now, Haruno?”

“Play to the score,” replied Muku, fiddling with his kunai as he spoke, “this is not an ANBU mission, better draw the rat out.”

His words were hardly out of his mouth when he casually threw the kunai forward.

Muku casually cast a kunai to that wooden door.

And punctured it.

_WHAT THE FUCK!!!_

Sakura was downrightly freaked out, but she had to prepare herself for whatever in the offing. And under her terrified gaze it happened.

All in a sudden the shabby old door of the shrine opened from inside, revealing a darkness that was rippling in a strange pattern. Chakra leaked out in abundance _. The monster of Shirakawa was disturbed._

_A neighing sound tore the air._

_It was low and somewhat sharp, coming out from the shrine. When its echo gradually faded, heavy footsteps filled its place._

_Thud, thud, thud_ , earth trembled as if in fear. _Thud, thud_. It was coming closer.

_Thud._

It walked out of the shadow and came under the sunlight. It looked like a white horse, yet with the head of a dolphin and five swaying tails. White and soft was its fur and dark blue-green were its eyes, but no mane covered its long beautiful neck. And on its head there were five long horns, pointed, all white despite the tan-colored ends. A creature of grace, dignity and dread.

“Oh kami-sama bless me,” whispered Sakura, “it’s the Five-Tails…”

Now Sakura finally remembered why she found its chakra familiar, along with the signature she detected in Land of Iron: she had sensed the same terrifying chakra during the last battle of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Jumped up to the vermilion log of the nearest torii, the kunoichi took in every detail of the chakra monster below. _My eyes may as well deceive me, but the Five-Tails seems smaller than it was during the war._

Muku and Ryūzetsu leaped up to both of her sides. The three of them stood on the torii, looking down on the Five-Tails.

* * *

“This is not the place for you,” said the tailed beast。

“Whoa, how terrifying,” Muku taunted openly, “They say one may steal a horse, while another may not look over the hedge. In your case, a tailed beast may hold a mountain, while shinobi may not walk through it. Hum?”

Offended, the tailed beasts hurled its tails and smacked the nearby woods. Sakura almost jumped out her skin when she felt the chakra around her turn evil

“Didn’t the nine of you become dominant after the war? I mean, even the Nine-Tails had to rely on Naruto’s chakra to heal himself.”

This time, the tailed beast was incredibly nice comparing to Muku’s remarks. For a moment it tilted its dolphin-like head, sniffing the air. “I know your chakra human girl. You were on the scene and aided Naruto-kun to free us from Tobi,” said the tailed beast. “Unlike the Eight-Tails, I chose to seclude myself in deep woods, but someone disturbed me.”

Sakura wanted to apologize but Ryūzetsu did it first. However, the Five-Tails answered in its reserved manner that they were not “the annoying bugs.”

“Do you mean the clones produced by the Ten-Tails?” she inquired.

“You are right, human girl. They are born out of the flesh and chakra of Deidarabotchi, or the Ten-Tails in your words. I’d call them Datara. And they are drawn by chakra like a moth to the flame…”

“Excuse me, but I have to ask. You say that you were woken up by those, hum, Datara. Then what about the others?” Before the Five-Tails sank into its memory, Sakura interrupted politely and seize the opportunity to learn more about mini Ten-Tails. After all, the tailed beast viewed the matter at a different angle. “I wish you no harm but as you know, the Shinobi World is greatly weakened. We can’t afford any more turmoil.”

The Five-Tailed beast didn’t really look at the three shinobi until the petal-haired kunoichi tried to making nice. “Haruno Sakura? There’s no need for honorifics, for human beings are not in my recipes,” said the tailed beast, “After being freed from the Ten-Tails the nine of us spred out. While two of us chose to stay with shinobi, the others would search for a quiet place and tinkered themselves there. Aside from the Two-Tails, who had gone to a snowy mountain, the rest of us all went to the places which akin to our jinchūriki lived before.”

_So it was the Two-Tails I sensed in the Land of Iron_ , thought Sakura. She couldn’t help to curious about the reason why a fire-natured chakra monster preferred to lodge in a world of ice and snow. _Extreme meets, hum?_

Then she heard Ryūzetsu blunt questioning: “Will those miniature clones of the Ten-Tails, or Datara following the fashion of tailed beasts, aggregate around places with intensive shinobi population?”

The answer to this inquiry was plainly obvious, however, none of the three shinobi would like to think about it. Especially Sakura, for she had confronted mini Ten-Tails twice so it was crystal clear that sooner or later, those creatures would turn their eyes toward shinobi villages although right now they chased after the Five-Tails like a pack of hyena.

“How to kill them off?” Voice shaking, the petal-haired kunoichi asked, “Is there any chance to get rid of them for good?”

“I don’t know either,” answered the Five-Tails impatiently, as if Sakura’s question offended its pride. “For countless time I tore them apart, but they would return after sunsets.”

Before Sakura could pressed it further, the horse-like chakra monster fanned its furry tails and spoken again.

“Go away!” said the Five-Tails coolly, “and you need not come here for the second time, for I will follow the spring breeze and find another resting place. See you never, shinobi.”

Slowly this elegant creature retreated into the darkness of Shirakawa Shrine. Moments later, Sakura saw a white shadow leaped into the woods from the backyard of the building, soon vanished from her sight.

* * *

On the way back, Sakura could hardly restrain the urge to pull out a message scroll and tell Konan everything she had learned about mini Ten-Tails. But she could not do so. She was with the Kusa couple and right now she could not trust them.

Muku had been chattering without stop, displaying a great monologue about the arrogance of the Five-Tails, the illogical fact Shirakawa Shrine didn’t crush down in its dilapidated state, his favorite brand of soldier pills that had shut production down because of post-war chaos, etc. As they reached the civilian village they spent their previous night, he was commenting on the patterns of geisha’s kimono.

Sakura couldn’t help but eyed Ryūzetsu sympathetically. After a moment of silence, the white-kunoichi changed the subject to what Sakura planned to do in the next step. And of course Sakura revealed nothing.

“Then, why not meet and discuss on another day,” suggested Muku.

“It’s too much trouble,” said Sakura dryly, “after all, I am still on the run from Konoha ANBU.”

“Oops, that’s troublesome,” said Muku, “But we are not going to leave encrypted messages on a certain tree and return for a short reply weeks later, are we?”

“That’s a potential option, Muku,” persuaded Ryūzetsu softly.

“There has to be some alternatives,” the shinobi exclaimed with an exaggerated sigh and turned to look at Sakura with puppy eyes.

“…I can send out my summon, you can either write down your message in a scroll and give it to my messenger, or ask him to rely your words—oh kami-sama what’s that face?”

“The face of a man who is too surprised to say a word,” replied Muku without hesitant, “I have always been dreaming of seeing Tsunade-hime’s summon with my own eyes.”

_That’s too bad, boy. I didn’t make a contract with slugs…_

Mildly agitated, Sakura bit her thumb and drew out her blood for the summoning jutsu. With a small cloud of smoke, a small cat-like animal appeared on the floor.

At the size of a house cat the feline had thick, smoky grey fur, her tail long and furry, her ears small and rounded. Black rosette decorated her back and limbs, while dots of same color covered her head and tail.

Lakshmi gazed at the petal-haired kunoichi with pale grey eyes. “Hello again Sakura, how may I help you?”

“Hi Lakshmi,” said Sakura softly, crouching down so that the feline didn’t have to crane her head so much. “I can’t openly send messages to anybody else, but situation calls, I need to keep contact with these two guys. Can you rely messages for us?”

“Sure, it’s my pleasure to help,” answered Lakshmi. Then she walked a few steps forward and jumped into Sakura’s arms, purring in satisfaction as the kunoichi stoking her gently. “Hello, Mr. and Ms. Shinobi, this is Lakshmi from Kailāśa, nice to see you. I will give you a token that will helps me to locate you.”

As she spoke a small dangling bell appeared from thin air. It was made of brass, beautifully polished, with a red thread attaching to it.

“That will be me,” Muku nodded and took the bell. “How can I notify you if I want to send Sakura-chan a message?”

“Just insert your chakra into the bell and I will know, I just record your signature.”

“Oh, that’s… a marvelous technique.” Muku blinked. It was apparent he was wondering why Sakura’s summon was a feline instead of Tsunade’s slug. But unfortunately his quiet partner gripped his shoulder and stopped him.

“After a long day I suppose we shouldn’t bother Haruno further, Muku,” said the white-haired kunoichi. Then she turned to Sakura, “We will contact you in the future, Haruno.”

In a seemingly rough manner Ryūzetsu dragged Muku out of the room, leaving Sakura inside, more than a little baffled.

“Well, Lakshmi,” the petal-haired kunoichi sighed, “we’ve got plenty of work to do in the next few days.”

The tiny one meowed back.


	6. Renascent

Time eclipsed, it had been almost one and half year since Sakura headed for Shirakawa Shrine with ex-Kusa ANBU Muku and Ryūzetsu, and had a nice peaceful talk with Kokuō the Five-Tailed Beast. And Kokuō, as quiet and preserved as his name suggested, left the Shirakawa Shrine as he had promised and very likely to find another scenic mountain and settle down there in peace, for none of them could pick up his trace. In fact, for the next ten years or so, all the tailed beasts, except those miniature clones of the Ten-Tails, all vanished from earth.

The night Sakura brought the message on mini Ten-Tails to Konan, the two kunoichi had a long talk in the chamber, combining every piece of information they had, drawing out plans to remove all those chalky monsters. As a result, during the past sixteen month Sakura had to do the part-time job of mini Ten-Tail cleaner. They were irrational monsters, therefore Sakura had no psychological stress killing them whenever she had the opportunity. In the end, she even earned her name because of it.

Hanamai no Sakura, this was how they called her. The name was a production of a friend gathering, when she song and dance in front Konan, using some Fūton and Genjutsu to produce pink floating petals. But honestly, she preferred alias like Yellow Flash of Konoha or Demon of the Hidden Mist, something like that. From her own perspective, flower and petal were a bit too soft for a professional ninja.

And she had a new cognition to her being a medical nin. Really, who could imagine how welcome a medic was in shinobi villages and civilian towns where hospitals and clinics were rarely seen. She used her knowledge to make things and stuffs for sale, from self-made soldier pills to long-spectrum antidotes, which had surprisingly good market.

Though she was a world renowned medic, she was on the list of Konoha missing-nin just like many of her childhood friends, which meant a life of endless conflicts and killing. It was hard at the beginning, but luckily she had her friends, her students, and her summons, therefore she managed. For most of the time though, Sakura travelled a lot, killing miniature Ten-Tail clones and collecting all sorts of intelligence on her way. She would sale some part of the information to her trading partners, but the entire version of the stories would be packed and sent back to Konan (and occasionally her friends in Suna). But basically she worked for no one, always trying her best to prevent military conflicts — like interfering a meeting between Orochimaru’s men and some militants form Kumo.

Sakura had asked little Lakshmi to keep the Scroll of Seals and the documents from Konoha ANBU archive, only kept the letters and Tsunade’s medic journal with her. Lakshmi was the youngest of the snow leopards leaving in Mount Kailash, still soft and naïve. But her brothers, Pillaiyar and Kumaran, were true fighters, just like their older generation. With them Sakura developed great cooperation ninjutsu and fighting tactics, giving their water-wind duo natured chakra. The increasing figures of her saving account and the decreasing number of mini Ten-Tails were the proof of their success, though not many people knew her summons were the snow leopard family instead of slugs.

From time to time she would return to Amegakure, where was the second home to Muku and Ryūzetsu. They had get on well with Konan, however, they preferred to roaming outside the village and enjoy their lives. Being the head of Ame Konan was supposed to bear the responsibility, which meant she couldn’t leave Ame frequently. At the meantime, Sakura was unwilling to be a third wheel and watch the Kusa couple lovey-dovey. All these led to the condition in which a petal-haired kunoichi was wondering in this beautiful summer meadow alone.

* * *

Just as its name suggested, on civilian’s level, the Land of Grass was most famous for its sprawling grassland. Sky high, thin clouds, fresh air, caressing breeze, the sunlight was dancing on the grass waves.

 Sakura let out a comfort sigh.

_Perfect outing spot for kids in shinobi academy. If I remembered well, Konoha and Suna had co-held a sodality somewhere near our border. Nice climate, anti-ambush landscape, scenic view… though no more place to stay after sunset._

The kunoichi grimaced. Amegakure had been in relative peace, but the entire shinobi world wasn’t doing well since some shinobi villages even became a gory history forever. Most of Kusa-nin had made their ways to the Land of Water and settled down there, others had travelled north-east to the peninsula where Kumo welcomed them.

_And for obvious reason, none of them chose a hidden village whose leader had unilaterally tear up all her peace treaties…._

Mildly agitated, she stomped on the grass-covered path, which was most likely to be the remaining part of Iwa’s supply channel to Kannabi Bridge during the Third Shinobi World War. She had read the story of the Battle of Kannabi Bridge on text books, and heard Kakashi and Obito talking about that day perspctively.

_The awakening of genius and the creation of devil. The green earth I tread in the daylight will be part of a legend immortal._

Then, all of a sudden, she felt discord. It wasn’t the sound, the rustling sound of wind passing grassland was no peculiar. It wasn’t the scent, the fragrance of wild flowers mixing with the smell of earth and grass was perfectly normal. Everything around her seemed to be harmonious, peaceful, perfect, too perfect to have a Haruno Sakura in the frame.

_Dammit!_

_It was the light! The light is too soft! The density of chakra affects refraction index. If large amount of chakra gather photons will absorb energy and their wavelengths will change as well! That’s why the light seems softer and the color more saturated, as if looking through a filter! Good Kami-sama I am totally…!_

The kunoichi forced herself to calm down and feel. And yes, the air was filled with chakra. She had always been good at chakra sensing. After she had done some eyesight-enhancing experiments, she was sure that no one could escape her sensing. And…

_Oh good kami-sama, what the hell! This chakra, it… it looks like an enormous blanket hanging over the grassland!_

Sakura gasped sharply. The last and only time she felt something like this, it was during the sealing of the Ten-Tails. Heart pounding, she closed her eyes and formed the tiger hand seal to help her focus. The chakra field felt placid, unaggressive, gentle as snowflakes falling on a winter night, calm as an inland sea bathing under the summer breeze.

Gingerly she stretched out a thin thread of her own chakra and followed its flow. Her conscious went up north, drifting, until a solid wall barred its passage.

 _Standing right in the middle between the ruins of Kusagakure and Kannabi Bridge,_ Sakura calculated the position of the wall quickly. _It has to be the source. Now I’ve found it, so the question is: should I go and investigate, or should I simply turn around and leave?_

This was not an assigned mission, therefore, she wasn’t obligated to go. However, such peculiar chakra field posed uncertainty, and uncertainty was the least thing this vulnerable world currently needed.

 _Sure, the likelihood for you to return unscratched is no more than a dismal,_ a voice whispered in her ears, _but sit up and take notice, you are no longer a whining baby! You are Hanamai no Sakura, one of the best kunoichi in the world! You have the duty as well as the power to move forward… Yeah, just march forward._

Quietly Sakura masked her chakra and headed to whatever in store for her.

_I am Sakura the Floral Dance, one of the stars that rose in the darkness of depression, and I should do the best I can to bring the dawn._

* * *

He sensed his guest the moment he stepped foot onto this meadow, whose disguise was worse than none.

Uchiha Madara ensconced himself in his favorite chair, breathed a sigh of satisfaction as the flavor of tea blooming on his tongue. It was afternoon teatime, nothing on earth could deter a grand old man from his refreshments.

His current hideout was perfect in all aspects. Kusagakure had a dubious honor to claim this almost good-for-nothing land. The earth wasn’t fertile enough to grow corps, while the plain landscape was as inconvenient as it could be to lay an ambush. So it was quite logical that apart from several Kusa-nin, no creature walking on two legs would come across this place during peaceful time.

So he gladly took over this land the very first time he travelled to. Now he was in possession of a meadow of waist-high grass, several springs and a secluded cavern for more than... ten years or longer? Those so-called Kusa elites should be ashamed to ignore his beautifully-made chakra circle coiling five miles from their village gate.

The Uchiha picked a skewer of Goma dango and took a bite, the sweet-salty taste of seaweed sauce was the perfect mate for the leafy taste green tea released. Fine food made a better mood. Now he decided that his guest was qualified and probably worth a fight, since one needed to be excelled at chakra sensing to locate the cavern…

No, his guest was a “she”. And her chakra pattern was so different from other shinobi that made her intriguing. Was it a brand new kekkei genkai or just a small obscure clan?

Madara smirked as his visitor drew closer. He didn’t have much fun since the previous war ended, did he?

* * *

As she ventured into the tunnel, Sakura found her whole being alerted and tensed. It was the instinct of a seasoned shinobi — intuition would recognize potential danger, even when the mind failed. However, the petal-haired kunoichi knew that gut instinct could not solve the problem.

The chakra field was still around, getting stronger each time she took a measured step forward. She found this passage behind a pool of clean fresh water, entrance naturally concealed, and between her scandals and the ground was a thin layer of lichen.

 _Fragile little things, couldn’t have survived if shinobi are rushing to and pro,_ Sakura thought. _This has to be a region unknown to Kusa, otherwise Muku and Ryūzetsu would mention it during one of our co-op missions._

Willing or not, the passage quickly reached its end and before Sakura laid a wooden door, a half-opened. Swallowing nervously placed her hand on the stone, and the door opened wide under her touch, revealing the chamber behind. Warm sunlight poured into the room through the window-like cut outs. The stone walls were decorated with bamboo shelves, displaying ornaments ranging from twelve-holed clay flute from the Land of Lightning to traditional hand-made war fan made in the Sunagakure. All furniture she could see were also made from bamboo, all elegant and austere like a Daimyo’s lobby, although the room was smaller. And in the air she smelled the bracing taste of herbal tea.

Every detail showed that the owner of the chamber was a royal, but when Sakura’s searching glance landed on the very source of the chakra field, all the hell broke loose.

The man was dressed in totally black, quiet and still staying in the shadow as if he was part of it. But when he exposed himself to the light, he was a mountain unshakeable. Plain shirt and ordinary ninja pants could not conceal the masculine power underneath. His hair black, tinted with slight touch of indigo, framing both sides of his proud, handsome face. And his eyes… cold and apathetic, with tomoe spinning lazily in a sea of crimson.

Sakura’s voice failed her, and she found heart beating faster. She knew it was stress reaction and the adrenalin spoke of danger. But she couldn’t get away, couldn’t even move her fingers. Everything faded, only blood and death remained.

Everywhere was blood red. And there was also darkness.

The colors of death.

Sharingan.

_Uchiha!!!_

* * *

Madara was mildly surprised, even his cold, stony appearance betrayed nothing of his thought. Indeed, he had measured the kunoichi’s chakra reserve and body structure the moment she stepped into his chakra field, however, he had never expected green eyes and pink hair.

_And what sort of shinobi would have pink hair? Significant trait, pure and total hindrance in wilderness. Not even a Senju would take after this ridiculous of cherry blossom._

“You’re supposed to introduce yourself when visiting a senior, kunoichi,” he said, still trying to figure out which shinobi family the kunoichi belonged to, which was an easy job since he had lived too long and slayed too many shinobi.

He noticed the kunoichi shivered, subtle but noticeable. For one or two second she behaved like any shinobi would. but different to them she quickly found her voice back and retorted.

“Surely it’s one of the cardinal virtues to be respectful to an aged, but my respect only goes to those who deserves it.”

“My, my, why so prickly.” Madara murmured, finally gave the kunoichi his full attention as he activated his eyes.

“You are ——!!!”

“So you have seen these type of eyes before, and for some reason you leave unscathed after seeing them.” He was amused, the kunoichi had to be someone if she could recognize his eyes. Few shinobi knew about the Mangekyō Sharingan, fewer were aware of its eternal form.

“Uchiha Madara, that’s me, the one and the only.” His lips curled slyly as the kunoichi’s eyes widened, satisfied by the fear and suspicion and _aggression_ of he initiated. “And who are you? It seems that you know something about my clan’s precious technique.”

For a moment the kunoichi remained silent, large eyes flickering, apparently seeking for a way out. It would be hard to do so, since he had blocked her way to the window while the tunnel led to the chamber was so long that he could easily catch her up if she chose it to escape.

_So, what will you do next, little dryad?_

“Haruno Sakura. It’s an honor to meet the co-founder of my home village.” The kunoichi replied calmly, “please Madara-sama, I'm really curious about one thing in peculiar. You must have heard of Obito, the one claiming to be you during the previous war. He exclaimed your death, but you are still alive, standing right here before me.”

Then, BANG!

Madara had to use his gunbai to save himself from being hit by kunai. There was smoke, flashes of white light, and the distinct smell of Sulphur.

 _Clone Explosion._ The Uchiha licked his lips, then jumped into the smoke-laden passage _. What a pleasant surprise._

* * *

 Earth torn and shattered, air filled with ash and smoke, two brilliant shinobi from separated time period were engaged in a heating battle.

“You’re worthy to fight with, Haruno, which makes me glad. So I decide to answer your confusions,” Madara commented darkly, swaying the gunbai to keep Sakura away from him temporarily. The kunoichi had chakra-enhanced power, he wasn’t looking forward to take a painful punch, even such level of pain meant little disturbance for him, but still… “Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu.”

“What!” Sakura screamed, released a Fūton as she drew back. Wind swirl collided with the blazing flame head on, spark flew, forcing the kunoichi to retreat further. She had no idea how striking she was when fully engaged in the battle, candyfloss hair dancing, the violet diamond-shaped marking on her forehead against her pale skin.

Madara smirked. Turbulent chakra aroused him, but what excited him most was the kunoichi’s performance. Kami knew he was thrilling to find someone being able to keep up with him during a fight.

“To be fair, let’s take turn.” Slowly and calmly he began, as if his Sharingan were not activated and blazing. “Me first, rumor says that the last Uchiha is your Hokage, is this ture?”

Though Madara didn’t find his wording inappropriate, the kunoichi seemed to be offended. Why? It was all just out of curiosity. He heard people talking about the incompetent Hokage of Konoha was a Uchiha and now he wanted to confirm it. Did she have to be this furious?  He wondered.

“Yes and no! Uchiha Sasuke is currently in charge of Konoha, but he is not my Hokage!” Sakura awkwardly rolled aside to avoid a lightning water dragon, emerald eyes flashing in rage.

_Screw Uchiha! Sasuke has committed to the game How-fast-can-a-nut-bring-down-Konohagakure, and this old bedlamite is shedding his crocodile tears! Damn Uchiha, damn their Sharingan... Wait for a second, does he talk as if he doesn’t know much about the current world? Well then, maybe I can……._

While she was calculating, the kunoichi was a half-beat slow analyzing Madara’s body movements. As a result, she nearly died under the greedy black flame of Amaterasu.

“Dammit!”

Madara didn’t find it surprising when the kunoichi avoided his dōjutsu. However, creating a small-scale earthquake with one punch was out of the ordinary……

“Take your time, kunoichi. Swearing isn’t something a lady would do.” He could sense how deep the crack was, and it strengthened his determination of keeping the kunoichi in a safe distance. “Three two one, good. You gave up your first chance to ask. Now it’s my turn again...”

“Insidious!”

“Thank you for your compliment. Cunning is the virtue of hunters while shinobi are messengers in the dark.” Madara made a tiger seal and blew out seven fireballs. Flame swallowed the petite figure in an instance, but the he sensed her chakra burning bright elsewhere. “You aren’t fancy about the idea Sasuke being the Hokage. That’s why you left Konoha?”

“No, I left Konoha because Sasuke is a bastard through and through! No one voted him into the office, but he confined the elders and took the power. He drove away more than half of the village elites and screw up Konoha’s diplomacy. He… he just sat there and watch the village on fire!

“And here is my question, Madara-sama. Given the chance, will you kill a scum who had brought discredit on your family? Beside, by killing Sasuke you may win over the title of Hokage.”

“Well, well what a fascinating statement, asking a Uchiha whether he will kill his later generation or not. Do you think it’s appropriate?”

For a moment Sakura felt her blood all went cold. Dread washed through her body, but she held her head high. Did the Uchiha see through her trick? May be, may be no. But a woman’s sixth sense was screaming danger. So she jumped back and crouched down, katana unsheathed.

Surprisingly, the Uchiha simply stood there, tossing back a luxuriant mane of raven hair. Sakura blinked, but she knew it was a genjutsu. Gradually his chakra leveled, behemoth, profound, smoldering, like the tranquil sea after the tempest.

“You’re… quitting?”

“Humph?” Madara tilted his head, then gestured the kunoichi follow him to his hideout. “You prefer to scheme assassination under the daylight? Don’t be an amateur, kunoichi, professionals always turn off the light before doing such things.”


	7. Daemonic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos, surely they make a story teller happy :)  
> And a special thanks to _Britannas_ , for sticking with me and Star Foam all along!

Drops of sunlight kissed the crystalline dews on the blue sepals of larkspurs. Wind whispered, dew dripped from the plant and fell onto the moistened ground. And there were silhouettes, sailing over the fragile grass without leaving any traces.

There are only two of them. Wrapped in a high-collared mantle, the taller one had wild spiky mane that resembled a lion. His handsome face proud, his crimson eyes cold, his chakra dark and sinister like black frozen flames. On his back was a large wooden gunbai, with a cold metal chain attached to its handle. He was a warrior coming out of shadow, a piece of the long - forgotten story.

Contrary to his dark and offensive looking, the smaller figure was exceedingly innocuous. She was petite and pale, with short candyfloss hair framing her face. She looked more like a civilian lady rather than a kunoichi on the run. But her eyes, emerald bright, were sparkling with excellent morale.

No, Haruno Sakura was not on for a picnic, she was hunting a missing-nin with a legendary Uchiha beside her. The co-founder of Konoha had promised to consider her proposal, announced their collaboration unilaterally, and stuck with her ever since. Sakura had no idea what a mighty Uchiha expected from her, but she knew she had to act normal if she preferred her head and body attached. Therefore, the petal-haired kunoichi returned to her old trade and showed him what she usually did to make a living, bounty hunting or else.

* * *

Madara was in a relatively good mood.

It wasn't difficult, to figure out the kunoichi as an analytical individual, though she kept hiding something from him. He deemed her rare, especially in a time when an inferior like Obito could mess up all the Five Nations. And of course, he selectively ignored the fact he handed that brat a pair of Rinnegan and a very detailed plan named the Eye of the Moon.

He gazed her more intently, trying to figure out in which sort of condition such a kunoichi had grown up. _A peaceful village where children wouldn’t need to waste their lives on killing, that’s for sure. So how to explain her hostility towards my little clansman as the current Hokage? Jealousy? Suppression? Treachery? Vendetta? …… Or perhaps,_ _crime passionnel?_ He noted her shining eyes and fair skin. _Well,_ that _can be a possibility._

He deduced that the kunoichi had been treated as an eye-candy regularly, considering her innocuous appearance and seemingly inadequate chakra reserves. But one needs to use his brain, _shinobi with brilliant mind can always bypass their disadvantages…... Sensor type, advanced chakra control, devastating taijutsu, pretty good kenjutsu… Better use genjutsu and ninjutsu if not overwhelming her with absolute prowess._

 _Wind and water natured chakra, I wonder if she can perform ninjutsu without hand seals._ He glanced over the kunoichi, trying to retrieve some impression on her warm, soothing chakra signature from his memory.

* * *

_Does he have to use his eyes to drill holes on me? There’s nowhere I can run for in this middle of nowhere!_

Though growling inwardly, Sakura dared not let her reluctance show. Being submissive was not her style of doing things, but she had to. Surely she had transferred into a better kunoichi during past years, yet he was the genuine Uchiha Madara, the dyed-in-the-wool one created the Valley of the End during his epic battle against Shodai Hokage! Indeed, she had her cards, a semi-finished dōjutsu, Strength of a Hundred Seal, summoning techniques and whatsoever. But these were insurance against the Death, not a legendary Uchiha.

_I have a sense of foreboding crept in around the edges. I will send myself to kingdom come if I don’t show my value and capacity._

But obviously fate didn’t feel like sending a petal-haired Haruno Sakura to kingdom come at the moment, for right before her were poorly designed traps and chakra strings used by puppeteers. It was one of her targets, Mukade, a defected Suna puppeteer had some 2,000,000 ryo in bounties on his head.

The kunoichi cast a glance at the stoic man, activated her semi-finished dōjutsu when he was taking little notice on her. Under intensive use of chakra her ocular organ evolved, granting her clarity and visualizing chakra flows and patterns, though for some unknown reason there were black threads lingering. But it was enough for Tsunade’s apprentice to defeat a puppeteer using chakra threads.

 _I’m supposed to defeat this puppeteer with ease,_ she thought, _a landslide victory is the most desirable outcome._

Casually she stomped on a twig and sent strands of chakra into it, smiling faintly when she heard the clicking noise as the puppeteer’s traps being disabled. And there was a sharp inhale in two o’clock direction. A novice mistake, and the puppeteer would pay for this.

Out of the blue, she dissolved into a swirl of cherry blossoms, beautiful and dreadful.

* * *

Madara left the combat zone as soon as the fight started, standing and observing. He watched with amusement as the puppeteer let out a desperate cry. That circle of dancing cherry blossoms was a combinational ninjutsu, he figured, wind blades took the shape of innocent flowers with the aid of genjutsu.

_Now, finally another shinobi being capable of releasing ninjutsu without hand seals… I’ve told Hashirama not to inculcate misconceptions just because few people can accomplish them. And this is the consequence of heeding to his idiot brother. For so many years only one Konoha shinobi successfully cut off the fetter on their academy’s text books, while my beloved kinsman had to rely on hand seal, shutting out the name of their techniques like fools._

A tearful cry interrupted his mockery. “Hanamai no Sakura! I don’t have the things you want! Leave me be, let’s just go our separate ways!” Cried the puppeteer, He looked as pathetic as one could, which was understandable since was trapped in Sakura’s jutsu.

_Humph, so this is one of her signature techniques. Hanamai… flower dance, how fitting._

There was a sudden alternation in chakra flow, as if someone chakra circuits were cut off. Madara was not at all surprised to see genjutsu being dispelled by its caster. In the center of the clearing stood the kunoichi, breath steady, cloak unscathed. But around her was a hideous mess of puppet components and tree barks. Tall trees were smashed into half due to chakra enhanced strength, only bushes and herbs survived from such catastrophe. And there laid the unconscious puppeteer, pale blue, limbs twisted, vomiting blood.

“He’s still breathing,” he stated.

The kunoichi hummed back in reply, then she took out a black covered booklet and dumped it in his laps. Madara glared at the innocent booklet, then the kunoichi, who was happily waving chakra scalpels on the puppeteer’s body, finally realized that he had nothing to say.

“This man,” Sakura pointed at the immobilized shinobi and then threw him into a solid jute bag, “has a bounty of 2,000,000 ryo on his head. However, Sunagakure is willing double the prize if someone brings him to one of the Station alive.”

“…Fine. Where are the stations?”

“It’s not far from here. We have just crossed the border of the Land of Waterfall, over the mountain before us is a small civilian town named Tochigi. Though Takigakure no longer existed, the organization still placed a station in that town.” The kunoichi replied, gathering the puppet components in another jute bag. Then she exerted her tremendous power and threw the bags on her seemingly fragile shoulder. “Let’s go Madara-san, given our present speed, we can arrive at the town before sunset and enjoy a hot meal there.”

* * *

It was summer time, the deer in Nara Clan Forest had moved to the forest margin, eating soft twigs and strawberries in the shadow of the trees. The light was soft and the air was fresh with the fragrance of herbs. Perfect weather condition for Konoha-nin to have a drill, go sparring in the training ground or… simply lazy around.

Nara Shikamaru was fully engaged in his favorite activity — cloud watching. Holding a blade of grass in his mouth, he leaned against a tree and enjoyed his rest after a long and vigorous spar. And a few steps away, a heavily panting Hyūga Neji was standing in his sweat-soaked outfit.

Under normal circumstance, neither Shikamaru nor Neji would allow themselves to spar to the point exhaustion. However, they hadn’t been under normal circumstance for quite a while. Really, who could blame two hot-blooded Konoha elites just because they were sparring out of irritation? Konohagakure had smiled through three greatest wars, but now she was losing her ground. Being a Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke had done a wonderful job in antagonizing other shinobi villages and handing out Konoha’s talents. But luckily most of Konoha-nin loved their village greatly, so they simply built a town near Suna and named it Leaf’s Town. Under Tenzo’s lead these former Konoha-nin worked for the young Kazekage in exchange for a safe harbor for Konoha residents, shinobi and civilians alike.

But there was one thing Shikamaru didn’t understand. Why the pink haired kunoichi didn’t head to Leaf’s Town? Her good relationship with Kazekage and his siblings would be a plus point. She was competent, being Godaime’s apprentice, ought to receive a hearty welcome in the Town.

_What a life…the trouble lies in the sealed scrolls Hiashi delivered to her._

Shikamaru sighed in defeat then drawlingly turned to his sparring partner. “Spilt it, Neji. I know you that you are not dragging me to my family forest so early in the morning just because you want to trample me with your gentle fists.”

Pearl white eyes looking at the Nara hire steadily, Neji didn’t reply until Shikamaru sipped on his water. “My cursed mark may be removed soon. Uncle is considering if it is a perfect step to send me away.”

In a matter of course, Shikamaru choked, apparently several drops of water went the wrong way. "Pardon me?"

“Uncle wants to send me away from Konoha, saying the line of Hyūga shall not be trapped in a decaying village. I have three weeks to think over it, whether to stay… or follow Sakura’s example.”

"Oh please Neji, we all know Sakura’s not on a holiday trip.” Shikamaru groaned in frustration. “In Sasuke’s delegations Sakura’s head valued as Orochimaru’s, but she keeps hunting down foreign nin in order to gain reputation. There has to be a reason for her to be in such a high profile, a reason worth risking her neck."

"Then she needs assistance, and this is what a friend means for. Remember what she had said when she dragged Naruto into her field clinic during the war? Something like she might not have a chance to heal her comrades if in the aftermath? We all wish to do something for our friends, not staying behind when they are charging in on the fore line.”

“Be realistic, lad, there's a limit to what we can do. We can’t just walk out of Konoha and give Sasuke one more reason to pick on our families.”

Neji stayed silent for a moment. His Byakugan, though deactivated, flaring bright as shadows of deer flashed by the clearing.

“The medic journal… do you think Sakura has found Tsunade-sama’s message?” asked Shikamaru.

“That’s unlikely to be true,” Neji replied. “It was concealed by a very special seal. Even a Hyūga cannot discover it without his Byakugan.”

“Really? But she had learned all the ins and outs of fūinjutsu years ago. The drawing of the blood seal would slightly affect the texture of the paper. Knowing Sakura, she is more than capable to discover this difference.”

“But it’s a medic journal, making its pages unavoidable stained with reagents.”

Shikamaru face palmed. He looked up into the sky, clouds were moving fast. The wind was rising.

“Mendokusai…”

* * *

Tochigi was a left-over of Takigakure, which currently served as a little gathering spot for Taki-nin unwilling to leave their home village. Living with civilians forced these powerful and somehow arrogant shinobi to cope with pastoral lifestyles belonged to civilian people. Those who couldn’t withstand had left for other shinobi villages, while the remaining of them settled down in this small alpine residence, taking random missions offered the Market (which was no longer an underground task center due to post-war recession, after all, homeless shinobi got to keep their bellies full), then returned to Tochigi with their moneybag full.

It might seem weird that missing-nin were most commonly seen near the Stations these days, but an apostate Sakura knew better. Although the market offered assignments categorized as escorting or retrieving, killing other missing-nin was the best way for any outlaw to earn quick money with the highest ROI.

 _After all, every shinobi need to money for weapon and supplies_ , thought Sakura as she killed off yet another ambusher who tried to take her down just a stone throw from the Station placed in Tochigi.

At first, she didn’t know how the world of missing-nin operated. For weeks she wandered in the areas that served as buffers between larger nations, and in fear of being recognized by some unfriendly acquaintances, dressed like a green samurai and dyed her hair black whenever she got near to the Land of Fire. Muku and Ryūzetsu were not helpful at all, being stuck in the same situation as she did; neither did Konan, who had never been a missing-nin despite being in a criminal organization full of infamous outlaws.

Things got better after she stumbled over a tavern filled with free agents, reticent operators and weapon traders, a center of shinobi semi-underground. It was a network of exchange into which Sakura thought she had fitted well. The kunoichi got the services and information she needed smoothly; no one could ever force her into some petty dirty works.

Now there was no need for Sakura to henge herself anymore, because acting too discreet would give imposters chance to use her name. As her professional skills as a kunoichi strengthened and sharpened in every possible angle, she won respect and became a soundless threat to whoever dared to lay their finger on her friends in Leaf’s Town and Konoha.

And it felt so _good_ to be one of the strongest, no exaggeration. She made jōnin at 16, but it had been a field promotion depended on sheer luck. She made ANBU after the war ended and that was because the elders deemed Konoha ANBU was short of manpower. Not until she left her home village had she evolved into a better kunoichi and her martial arts got a brand new level, thanks to Sasuke. But yet again, years ago she had read another Uchiha’s comment on the significance of power in his journal:

> _If a shinobi is weak, then his sibling will die. If a clan is weak, then its line will perish. If a village is weak, then its rights and interests will be nothing but derision. The strongest writes the rules and define justice._

Sakura had pulled out the journal among a myriad of in Konoha Library when she was still in the Academy. However, it was hard to tell if it was good or not for her to create an intimate link with a hawkish Uchiha Madara through written words as a little girl. Given the fact that she had removed her childish crush out of her head, some value implanted by Madara’s journal gained clarity:

Sakura knew the best result for a shinobi born into a civilian family was turned into a specialist in one chosen area of combat. However, after she figured out her weakness in long-range combat accounted for several brushes with death, she took advantage of the Stations and gathered as many taijutsu scrolls as possible and practiced them continuously as long as her physical condition permitted. She had resolved to be a well-rounded fighter just like those clan elites with a whole clan of resources as their backup.

Sakura kind of became a perfectionism, hell bent on executing hand seal free ninjutsu and creating her own ocular centered techniques with such enthusiasm that would scare her 12-year-old self off. She was a healer, her chakra soothing, yet she had more than fifty ways to kill a target using her medical knowledge, with or without chakra. And most importantly, Haruno Sakura now wished for power, and couldn’t stop herself from pursing higher ground.

_But I am way far from being an ambitious, all-rounded, arrogant lunatic._

The petal-haired kunoichi thought light-heartedly as she took out another jute bag and throw the body of the ambusher in it. She was going to ask Madara wait outside the hub while she went inside and handed in her triumphs, which the man compiled without questioning, clearly aware of the chaos he might trigger.

_At the end of the day, I have duty, I have dreams and friends to keep me sane._

Her moneybag was singing happily when she got out the hub. So she took the Uchiha to the best hotel in the town and ordered two deluxe rooms there. Although the raven-haired male didn’t show any conspicuous repercussion, being a veteran Uchiha-ish linguist, Sakura dared say that he was in a good mood when having dinner. Therefore, when she took the chance to ask if she could have this evening to herself, Madara just nodded for once and then returned his attention to his food.

Before the last ray of sun disappeared, the kunoichi went out the hotel, cloak secured, just like any discreet shinobi travelling in this region. Quickly she passed among the crowds and went to the hub where she had just handed in Mukade and two other missing-nin. She took out a black larkspur flower before stepped into a dimly lit room with a bar and some drinking shinobi.

For a moment Sakura looked around the hub, searching for the token matching hers. Then at the corner booth she spotted it, violet larkspur flower, subtly filled with healing chakra to maintain its lively state. She walked there, hood on and showed her flower to the man sitting by the booth.

“Evening, Sakura. It has been long.” The man greeted her casually, his usual placid voice tinted with warmth. It was C, cladded in a grey cloak from head to toe, apparently after a long trek in order to trade for the medical processing Kumo previously ordered. “We’ve got quite a good seat today. Today is my treat, so order whatever you like.”

Gladly Sakura took her seat, a good-natured smirk flickering at the corner of her lips. “Three months are indeed a long time, mate. Long enough to make you forget that I don’t do alcohol.”

* * *

At the shadowed corner two young shinobi chatted in delight, but Madara, being an old man who had seen the world and done it all like he did, sensed something else under the layer.

Cloak and hood were common in this small village, yet hooded shinobi with chakra-preserved wild flowers? This had to be some sort of underground trade, since the kunoichi had mentioned this hub as a trading center for information and supplies.

_Well… perhaps they are having a legal deal, dressing so in order to avoid unwanted attention._

The Uchiha blended into the darkness above the duo, eavesdropping as they ordered some drink, tea for the kunoichi and shōchū for the Kumo-nin. Their conversation was normal at the beginning, short vignettes they had seen or heard during their parting, differing opinions on certain clinical trials and any other general things happened around the ninja world. Then the pattern changed, the topic gradually became more private. There was no doubt he was a wizard at shinobi arts, but he had absolutely no idea how ninjatō and senbon could be used in a medical emergency when short of necessary tools.

Madara felt as if he was out of step with the times while the world had changed in many ways. Life in solitary had do his mind something good and made him sober, but the conversation bellow gave him an impression that soon he would be reduced to wash dishes in a bar… He was not all interest in whether the ex-jinchūriki in Kumo was determined to be a pop star or not, and the fact that his travelling companion schemed to leave him alone in the hotel just because she wanted to learn these sorts of rubbish annoyed him more than he could imagine.

So he walked through the walls like a ghost, disappeared into nothingness before moonlight could kiss his hair.

He wasn’t happy. In fact, Madara felt sick whenever he saw the strong being admired, respected, revered, trusted, or treated with any emotion unrelated to fear. At his time, strong clans were feared by others and friendly overtures were regarded as overtures of sanguinary slaughters. Just took a look at Ōnoki, as soon as he overcame his fear toward him, the war between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth broke out. Power and force might or might not guarantee peace, but surely it would evoke fear for the weak.

… or would it not? The perfect counterexample would be Hashirama, his good old friend. He couldn’t comprehend why people in the shinobi world respected Hashirama and named him Shinobi no Kami. Heaven knew that Hashirama’s Wood Releases were even more deadly than his dōjutsu.

He had no idea how to face him ever since we were children. And he was incapable of confronting him, not even now. These would explain why the great Uchiha Madara tended to back off when he linked the kunoichi with Hashirama, of not being feared by others. And that disturbing hair color…

_Forget the hair, at least she hasn’t been sulking around!_

A female copy of Senju Hashirama with pink hair and round doe-eyes would be the end of Uchiha Madara. But she was the personalize of what an ideal shinobi should be as he and Hashirama imagined, long before Konohagakure was found.

* * *

It was hard to define the relationship between the legendary Uchiha and Shodaime Hokage. But by far we could tell that another pair of childhood rivals in Konoha were not getting with each other well at the moment.

“Good morning, Hokage-sama,” the blonde greeted quietly.

“But your visit ruins my perfect beginning of a good day.” Rukodaime Hokage Uchiha Sasuke snapped shut the booklet in his hand. His expression changed rapidly, before he finally put up a taunting sneer. “What brings you to my office, Na-ru-to? I didn’t summon you.”

“…I think it’s time for me to start a family with Hinata. Can I ask for a short break?”

“A break? Of course you can have one.” Sasuke drawled. “In fact, you can have as many breaks as you like once you pick up the _slack_ Haruno left in the village.”

“But I’m not a medic! … and I never know how to run a hospital.”

“Well then, there will be no break.” Sasuke gave his ex-teammate a sick twisted smile. He knew Naruto couldn’t manage it, the blonde had been the dead last for so long after all, but he enjoyed the glimmers of hope being reduced to nothing. And by acting so, Naruto turned and walked out of the room silently, leaving Sasuke behind.

After a long time, Sasuke smashed the black-covered booklet onto the door Naruto had closed.

Black tomoe were spinning at an insanely high speed, but the young Uchiha felt anger brewing inside. Two days ago was the birthday of his firstborn, and according to family tradition, it should be the father’s duty to guide the child to his first Katon. But no, the boy couldn’t feel his chakra coil, not mention the most basic Fire Release _Katon: Gōkakyū no Juts._ Just another Rock Lee, and Sasuke blamed it on Karin’s uselessness: the bloodline of Uchiha was dominant, so it had to be _her_ fault. He should have figured out that lousy bitch was not at all a suitable kunoichi to mother the next generation of Uchiha.

_Well then, who is the most suitable one?_

He thought about the pinked haired girl who happened to belong to Konoha Team Seven just like he did. _She_ was competent, and her civilian gene would not jam the perfect blood of Uchiha. Therefore, his child, their child, wouldn’t be a useless failure, a shame to his clan……So why the hell on earth had he driven Sakura away?!

 _Fool… It’s all Karin’s faults!_ _If it hadn’t been for her, I’d be one more step closer to success. The return of my clan…_

_and the end of Konoha!_

“Surely I need to a fitting one to be the mother,” he whispered darkly, “better pick up another… yes, Yamanaka Ino.”

* * *

After spending two nights in Tochigi, the petal-haired kunoichi and the legendary Uchiha resumed their journey. They wandered through woods and fields during the day, admiring nature’s beauty while generalizing about politics. When night fell, they picked up two neighboring trees as shelter and rested. In this way they travelled for a good seven days, until they spotted a wayside teahouse in the Land of Tea.

The little teahouse was traditionally looking, its decoration had created a pleasant atmosphere, all calm, all soothing, of happy memory and peaceful time.

Sakura took her time and breathed in the white steam rising from her cup. It felt like the old days, when she and the Kusa couple had their drinks after a long tiring day of mini Ten-Tails hunting. And there, in the depth of her memory, when war and treachery were illusory concepts, a naïve little girl, with eyes flickering to a brooding Uchiha boy, demurely nursing her favorite Qi-Men black tea.

She couldn’t help but cross comparing the three Uchiha males she had already known. Sasuke, her former teammate and childhood crush, with whom she spent most of her gennin years. But she had never understood him, the young moody one as well the grownup insane one. And there was also Itachi, Sasuke’s older brother and sworn enemy, now known to the world as a desperate hero with false loyalty. But rumors were not always precise. It was only after a close contact with him had Sakura knew what inner strength was, and how artistic killing skills were performed. During the Fourth Shinobi World War Sakura and a reincarnated Itachi had joined forces to interrupt Kabuto’s _Edo Tensei_. During the fight Sakura realized her true potential, that her civilian raised self could be one of the best shinobi in the world. Secretly Sakura worshiped him as her own brother, ignoring the fact that Itachi had already got a “foolish otōto” who happened be clinically insane.

And Madara, the Uchiha Madara, one of the two most infamous Uchiha ever. Sakura had a special affinity to the legendary Uchiha and she blamed it on timing. To be honest, she might as well be the only people in the world who had read Madara’s journal scrolls like story books prior to her study on Konoha History. It was already too late when she finally learned what he had actually done. Carefully she made sure that she could tell her childhood hero and the co-founder of Konoha apart, yet her worship to such a strong ninja had been engraved into her heart, Rikudō Sennin said Naruto and Sasuke were the reincarnation of Shodaime and the legendary Uchiha, but Sakura was clever enough to draw her own conclusion. Any qualified medic knew the power of the gene. Surely the continue of the lines guaranteed the repetition of history, and the co-founder of Konoha was nothing like her ex-teammate.

Stronger than steel, perhaps even stronger than iron, the Uchiha sitting next to her was like the black flames of Amaterasu burning cold. The petal-haired kunoichi had been quietly studying the man for some time. There was no doubt he was a powerful shinobi strong enough to resist the tides of Time. His [handsome] face might be expressionless, but every detail on him spoke of aristocratic pride, the kind of aura that would have freaked her out of her skin if she had never worked under Tsunade. On rare occasion they made eye contact, Sakura saw no madness in those crimson eyes. Uchiha Madara might have twisted Obito’s mind and turned him against the world, but he was nothing like a pessimistic lunatic... at the moment.

“You are preoccupied,” Madara’s dark silky tenor shocked her out of her musing. Sakura found her ears prickled, a mysterious sign of warning that gradually disappear as time passed by.

“Sorry, just thinking about my former partners,” she replied casually, quickly building her guard up. “When I was a gennin, my squad had once stopped by a similar teahouse during a… quite eventful mission.”

“Eventful. Not many gennin mission should be referred as eventful. Mind to share?”

“No, I don’t mind, after all it’s not classified… You know Konoha’s condition after Orochimaru’s invasion, right? Gennin teams were sent out for C or B ranked mission but their mentors were summoned back due to the lack of manpower. In the Land of Tea my teammates and I met some chūnin, one of them had stolen Nidaime’s sword. Then we got involved in some profit-relating conflicts. Sort of complex.”

“My, a chūnin stole Tobirama’s sword and Konoha just allow him walk out of its gate?” Madara was surprised, which was a natural reaction concerning his vendetta with the Senju. _I’d love to summon back Tobirama and deliver him the news_ , he smirked out of Schadenfreud. _It’s such a shame I vowed never to bring any dead back._

“No, not anymore. At the end of the day, Raijin no Ken shattered into pieces and the one stolen it was thrown off a cliff by Naruto.”

The petal-haired kunoichi blanched after she finished her words. And it wasn’t hard for Madara to figure out why. She had mentioned a name, Naruto, and there was only one Naruto in Konoha for the past twenty years or so.

That would be the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki of this generation… So the kunoichi used to be Sasuke’s teammate? Madara eyed Sakura subtly, wondering why a soft, bright kunoichi wanted her former teammate dead. He didn’t disregard Sasuke deliberately, even he was the continued line from those he betrayed him, both of them shared the name of Uchiha. But he was observant and this pink haired girl with bright shiny eyes was gifted, strong-minded, the kind of people who preferred to get things done above the deck, just like Hashirama.

 _So, it’s Sasuke’s fault_ , Madara concluded. Then he picked up the last stick of dango and devoured them under the Sakura’s accusing stares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much for this chapter, quite a long one, humph? I am under the impression that I need to write some AN or my dear readers will be mad at me in the next few chapters. ;)
> 
> #1 I am trying to use differnt POVs to show you a what-if story. This means that neither Sakura's viewpoint nor Madara's viewpoint are objective when comparing to _my viewpoint as the writer_.
> 
> #2 There is no worry for orphaning this story. MadaSaku is a rare pairing in the large Naruto Fandom, niche pairing, niche readers. But I have the drafts, the previous versions, the research domuments... Yeah, I am going to finish Star Foam nonetheless.
> 
> #3 You can hurl questions at me, no problem. I will reply them ASAP. Anyway, thank you again for reading! I hope you enjoy it :3


	8. Scatterbrain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos my lovely readers! Here I present you with the eighth installment of my MadaSaku story.  
> Bug fixed on June 26th :)

He wondered why kami-sama was so keen on toying his destiny. Discriminating the Senju had been a common practice for his kinsmen during his former life, but he had sacrificed almost everything for Konoha in his latter life. So why he was the miserable one?

The raven-haired male leaned against the Japanese maple, which was the only tree in this dimly lit humble yard. A gust of cold evening wind swept through the fiery red leaves atop, making them dance in delight and declare that the harvest season was drawing to its end. He sighed, for the umpteenth time after his third demise.

Unlike normal people, he had not been sent for the Wheel of Reincarnation after death. Instead, he was stuck in some sort of limbo. He was ghost now, yet he was able to touch the material substance when he gathered his spiritual energy and focused some into his fingers in the same fashion of manipulating chakra. It wasn’t a n easy job to do so, since spiritual energy was hard to accumulate, yet he managed and gathered some.

After his first demise, he made a wish to an eccentric Rikudō Sennin. He asked the sage to make himself the elder brother so that his beloved aniki could be free from the messy clan politics in their next life. And the Sage had hearkened to him.

In his second life he became the firstborn of the family just as he had wished for, though his previous memory had been cleared completely. As a child he witnessed war in childhood and developed such a false loyalty towards his shinobi village that he annihilated his entire clan for it, sparing his otōto so that someone could him in the future.

His memory from previous life flooded back right after Sasuke killed him. The illness he had suffered was nothing compared to the soul-consuming agony that rippled inside him when he had finally put piece of memory into place.

Who was that clan-devoting shinobi during the Warring States Period? Who was this village-first fool led by the nose? And who was this being scared by a mere imposter of his aniki?

After endless self-debates he drew up his own conclusion that the worlds he had known were merely two sides of reality. The darker side was shadowed by the clouds of hatred while the other side was brightened by the light of peace and love and hope. Yet the world of living could not be described by either of them and Rikudō Sennin’s theory of “love or force” was merely a children play.

Subsequent to this devastating recognition was an endless stretch of darkness, warm and comforting. He was contented to this, but then he was struck by a strange ray of light and returned to the realm of reality in a makeshift body… Stupid Sasuke, for choosing the imposter claiming to be his aniki. Stupid Tobirama, for inventing such a dishonorable technique. Stupid Orochimaru, for training a disgusting Yakushi Kabuto.

——After being died and resurrected and died again, he summoned back to the world of living beings. But this time, he was no longer a tractable marionette.

Having lived twice by then, he effortlessly overrode Kabuto’s Impure World Reincarnation and promptly decided to handle that young snake personally. Inadvertently he was discovered by a pink haired Konoha-nin when crossing a station of Allied Shinobi Force. He learned that his plan to make Sasuke a hero failed miserably through the kunoichi’s shouting and questioning. He tried to see her off, but Sasuke’s little teammate kept tailing behind and fought beside him when they confronted Kabuto.

In Konoha chūnin Haruno Sakura he saw awesome potential yet even more massive shackles, which was surprising a surprising fact because Tsunade should have figured that out and help the kunoichi out. He felt that he owned that girl some sort apology due to Sasuke’s foolish behavior, so he gave all his remaining chakra, or whatever energy he had, to the kunoichi before his reincarnated body dissolved into dirt. It was an act based on reparation, but he wouldn’t have done so if he didn’t find the kunoichi worth of his energy.

But the question now was: who was he?

Was he the second child of Uchiha Tajima, or was he the firstborn of Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto? Was he a lingering shadow from the Warring States Period, or was he a Konoha-nin who had given his all to his village? For a shinobi living on life’s edge, self-doubt was on the top of the list of “Unwelcome”. He should have suffered from a mental breakdown now, but luckily he had a such loving company as Sakura…

‘Oi, Itachi no Danna! Why are you brooding inartistically again?’

… so why was this hyperactive bomber in the picture?

Uchiha Itachi closed his eyes in soundless defeat. It seemed that Kami-sama deemed it entertaining to see him speechless as a spirit, a punishment for him being so anti-Senju during his life as Izuna? However, he did enjoy the peace of his own mind, so it would be most appreciated if he could quietly observe the dynamic between his aniki and Sakura, who he had being looked after during the past years.

‘You quit talking with your muse?’

‘No, never enough! The art of nature can be found here and now, yeah.’ Deidara smirked as he pushed himself out of the surrounding wall. The ex-Akatsuki had learned to act normal the Uchiha, who had become less intimidating since the day both of them stuck in limbo. Freaky scary Uchiha, still got his Sharingan in spiritual state when he had lost the mouths on his palms and chest created… ‘Just come back and check if you’ve already dead worrying Sakura-chan, yeah!’

‘…I’m sorry to inform you, Deidara, but you and I are both in the same state as ninja ghosts,’ the raven-haired male replied dryly. ‘And you need to control your emotion when hovering over Sakura. I think she felt you last time in the teahouse.’

‘Said the one constantly strained her nerves, yeah!’

Itachi sighed, though no air coming out with his breath. Spirits didn’t feel anything, so why was he having a migraine.

* * *

It was festival night.

The resort civilian town in the Land of Rock was celebrating. On both sides of the streets small red lanterns were lit up. Happy cheers and the sweet smell of chrysanthemum filled the air. The townspeople had got an abundant harvest in autumn and tonight they would enjoy themselves before winter fell.

While the locals were drifting between stands only for fun, Sakura and Madara surged through the crowd looking for a housing place. It took them several tries, but they managed to find a single open room at a clean little inn with a cheerful proprietress and an untended backyard.

There had been an open room at the tavern, but they were not allowed to have it, much to Sakura’s dismay. As soon as the bartender found her intention to share the room with the scary red-eyed guy waiting outside, he shooed the kunoichi outside.

…And the red-eyed guy claimed the bed near the window the moment he entered the room, following the kunoichi. Rolling her eyes discreetly, Sakura went refreshing herself in the attached bathroom and preparing for the festival. It was Madara who decided to see the civilian celebration here, and she had grown accustomed to his odd behaviors through months of travelling together, like ordering Goma dango after a good fight and brooding whenever he saw someone drinking Gyokuro, the most expensive types of tea Sakura had ever laid her eyes one, but never took a sip himself.

Five minutes later, she and Madara joined the townspeople, floating from booth to booth late into the night. And unbeknown to them, an invisible Deidara had been drooling all the time.

‘I want to have some bakudan, Itachi no Danna!’

‘For the seventh time tonight, Deidara, I’m not a cook. Be quiet or I will turn _you_ into a bakudan.’

‘…It never occurs to me that your brother can fit well into a festival background. In Iwa we just train harder whenever civilian celebrates.’

‘Ninja are human, so do Uchiha. We are made of flesh and blood so there’s no need to be surprised,’ said Itachi. He watched merrily as Madara-nii led a pink, soft Sakura through the crowd and scooped goldfish. Festivals triggered happy memory, and he was glad that the harsh lines on his brother’s face softened.

Humming in pleasure, Itachi curved his lips into a tiny little smile. One of the best thing in the world was seeing your loved ones living in happiness.

* * *

Still wearing his plain dark blue mantle and the stoic face of a Uchiha, Madara finally had enough of holiday cheers and gestured Sakura to leave. The petal-haired kunoichi was beyond glad when she sat by the window when they returned to the inn. It was one of her best nights for three years even she had been walking one step behind a not-that-scary-but-still-very-scary Uchiha Madara.

Before she took out Tsunade’s Medic Journal and prepared for a night reading, she glanced at the raven-haired man sitting by the window. Sakura was curious. There were fireworks and happy conversations outside, just how could a sensor type like him keep unaffected and focused on mediation?

Then the man in question turned to look at her, deadpanned.

“Em… I’m going to make some herbal tea before bed. Will you give it a try?”

The Uchiha stared at her for a moment, “No, boiled water will work for me.”

Nodding in recognition, Sakura took their cup and went out. Half way through the walk she suddenly figured out why Madara could mediate amidst a hubbub. It should be blamed on the fire and smoke he came through in his younger time, Warring States Period as people named it. A warrior had to take every opportunity to rest and recover on the battlefield…

Door flew open in front of her without a sign. Sakura jerked her head, and looked right into the sinister pattern of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

* * *

Madara opened his eyes as soon as the girl had gone far enough down the hallway. The festival celebration had cheered him up a little, but he wasn’t feeling good at the moment. It wasn’t like that he had eaten the wrong thing earlier, since he had been accompanied by the best medical nin in the world and she had had the same food as he did. Yet he knew something was wrong here. Having lived for more than one hundred years, he had unparalleled intuition, the pre-judging ability that sensed danger and flaw before any rational mind could observe it.

So, something was terribly wrong.

Quietly he observed the room with Sharingan activated. The door, the closet, the beds, the nightstand… Alert flickered in his eyes when an ordinary hardcover book came into view.

‘Why’s he eyeing the book like that? It’s merely Sakura’s light reading before bed, well, a bedtime reading by Godaime Hokage, not some freaking ninjutsu scrolls written by Orochimaru! What’s more…. Aaahh his eyes become even more weird!!!’

 ‘Chill, Deidara,’ the other spirit chided, ‘We all know Tsunade wouldn’t stick some kibaku fuda in her medic journal and hand it to Sakura. But aniki must have seen something we cannot. After all, he’s got Eternal Mangekyō.’

‘But you have eternal little-red-eyes as well, Itachi no Danna. Your brother isn’t going to find anything else with his kekkei genkai… yeah.’

‘No Mangekyō for me as a ghost. It’s hard to use the most basic form of Sharingan at the moment. How on earth can we generate chakra while neither of us have a body cell?’

‘Ha, so you can’t turn me in to a bakudan, yeah!’

‘…Shut up.’

It did not take Sakura long to get the water and head back, her chakra signature giving off a cheerful aura. When she opened the door with two porcelain cups in hands, Madara turned his gaze to her and studied her with his penetrating eyes. Intensely he watched the girl making tea, her back stiffened and her muscles tensed.

“Are you aware of the fūin placed into that book?” He inquired, gesturing at the black covered book she had placed on their nightstand.

“Pardon me?” The girl blinked as if he had just tossed her a not-so-funny joke. Her green eyes sincere and ingenious even there was a number in them. How peculiar, for a kunoichi who had a bounden duty to reap life.  She might not even know that she tended to slightly tilt her head left when confused, a small habit quietly gave away her inner thoughts when one took time reading into her expressive eyes. But right now Madara was not in the mood for enjoying the way her hair decorating those feminine features, so he pressed on.

“Surely you’ve never examined it carefully. The binding had been fixed in some potion. A very special one to be exact, the kind of potion you may use if you are going to conceal traces of blood or other chakra-filled liquid… You’ve got a book with a blood seal. Sakura, is your blood the key to decipher it?”

“I, I don’t know. But ——”

Out of patience, Madara grabbed the girl by her wrist and cut her palm with a kunai. He watched in a morbid fascination as drops of warm crimson liquid emerged, then fell under the gravitational law till they hit the plain black cover of the book. The book absorbed the girl’s blood, and in return shew them a thin web of kanji strings that smelled utterly unpleasant.

Madara scowled when he realized he had just mingled Sakura’s blood with a Senju’s.

* * *

Emerald eyes widened in shock as the fūin revealed itself. Madara had loose his grip and her wound healed on its own, but Sakura paid little attention to them. For she sensed Tsunade-shishou’s chakra inside the seal, warm, vigorous, strong, _motherly_.

The seal kept undoing itself on auto-pilot, and then out of the blue a tiny little scroll rose from the book as if some mysterious force was pushing beneath.

Sakura didn’t where she got it from, but she was able to snatch Tsunade’s medical journal as well as the scroll under Madara’s nose. And less than five steps away the said man was radiating killing intention, but she secured her shishou’s legacy in her pocket when she was supposed to be shivering like a fluffy little bunny…

“Open it,” Madara ordered coldly.

Slowly and reluctantly the kunoichi unrolled the scroll, noting the red shades on the wooden roller in the process. Madara was literally eating her up with his cold, calculating eyes, yet she told herself _not_ to flinch.

Then the vintage confident script of Godaime Hokage came into view.

> _Sakura,_
> 
> _I'm writing this letter to prepare against any misfortune and I hope you'll never have to read this. But I have to write these things down just in case._
> 
> _My child, though Danzō was a notorious freak of nature, he had made a point: Konoha is the leaf bathing in the sun and there are secrets in the darkness to keep it alive. Here I provide you with many secrets that should be kept away from light. They are unpleasant stories and responsibilities, but you HAVE to know them all._
> 
> _You may keep wondering why three years ago I took you as my apprentice. By then I said that I had seen your potential and determination, but that's only part of the truth. And the remaining part is that, you are not a civilian orphan._
> 
> _This is no joke. Your father Yukino Kuranosuke came from Yuki Ichizoku and your mother Tsubomi was my youngest cousin. You are my little niece, Sakura. You are one of the descendants of Senju._
> 
> _Your parents had been living in the Land of Water under the cover a civilian family, and you've spent your childhood there. ~~until the day some Kaguya bastards~~    ~~You had a happy life and you~~    ~~Sakura I am really sorr~~ I am really sorry, but your father, he... he was killed during one of the riots led by Kaguya clan against Sandaime Mizukage. Tsubomi was fatally wounded then, but she buried my brother-in-law and fled back to Konoha with you in a swaddle. She passed away shortly after entrusting you to Sarutobi-sensei._
> 
> _It's hard to tell you the following truth, but it’s my job to let you know them as Godaime Hokage. The council made the decision to strip of your right to be a shinobi by sealing away your chakra. Sarutobi-sensei had tried, but the elders turned a deaf ear to him. They sealed you with your own chakra, changed your last name from Yukino to Haruno and gave you to the Oda family. Eldr Utatane put you into the Academy only to show you that you would be... incompetent to be a ninja._
> 
> _As a Hokage I should plead you for your understanding to Konoha's solution, for you were “most likely to be a Senju prodigy and increase the tension between Uchiha and the rest of the village”. But being your only family I'd never say something ridiculous like that, all I ask for you is not to resent us, resent Konoha, resent your fellow shinobi._
> 
> _And I... I really appreciate your courage and determination. They had tried to ruin your confidence but still you've gone so far and become one of the best kunoichi in Konoha. There are fire burning in your eyes and you have always been awesome in your own way. You are no way less than those “prodigies” in the younger generation and you overpower the majority of Konoha elites. I am proud of you, for every obstacle you've overcome. I view you as my own daughter, and I love you whole-heartedly._
> 
> _In Hokage's vault I've found several scrolls regarding the fūin placed on you. It is designed to divide your chakra reserve as well as your chakra coil unequally, and the pathways you’ve kept seeing beforehand are merely slim inner tubes of your chakra channel. It made up an artificial chakra system to blind you, but you cannot see through it because the seal was built by your own chakra. What you need to do in order to undo the seal is to look inside your body, discover the fake wall in your chakra channel and simply break it. But! Handle this with extreme care, since your true chakra reserve would have grown into an unimaginable state because for all these years it had interlocked with your apparent reserve. So you'd better find some sparsely populated area to retrieve what belongs you. Personally I recommend Training Ground 28, where less eyes can spy on you._
> 
> _Although Tsubomi hadn't been close to me, female Senju in my generation shared one thing in common: we all tend to stay away from the village our grandfather built up. I left Konoha following the Second Shinobi World War, and your mother had never worn Konoha hitai-ate through all her life. You assure you that you can stay or leave on your own will. No one has the right to force you to stay in Konoha, and I wish you can a long, happy life without mingling with politics._
> 
> _And here is the last thing. Whether telling your friends your true parentage or not is totally up to you. The elders owned you greatly and they will keep their mouths shut unless they want to push you away, so just be Sakura. You are always the best._
> 
> _May the Will of Fire shield your dream._
> 
> _May our ancestor's spirits guard your soul._
> 
> _May kami bless you with a road bathing under the sun._
> 
> _Signed,_
> 
> _Senju Tsunade_
> 
> _4:17 a.m. at Allied Shinobi Force HQ_

Sakura felt pain, as if someone had just stabbed her with an icy blade for a million times. Sounds and colors faded, only pain remained, surging through her vain and bubbling in her chest.

_My parents died protecting me._

—— “…passed away shortly after entrusting you to Sarutobi-sensei.”

_A fūin had altered my chakra pathways._

—— “…made up an artificial chakra system to blind you.”

_I am shishou’s family._

——  “I view you as my own daughter, and I love you whole-heartedly.”

_I… I am…_

Strange how her lungs seized up and refused to cooperate with her nervous system. It hurt so much that she felt something inside of her broke. She gasped for air. Then, all of a sudden, sound and noised returned and she could her heart drumming loudly in her ears.

The kunoichi swallowed as the mighty Uchiha Madara glared at her, and the wavering patterns in his Sharingan were everything but amicable. She pleaded, but the man commonly known as the Ghost of Uchiha kept his straight, smirking when he ordered.

“Why’re you so scared, kunoichi? Just undo the seal, _now_!”

_Should I be glad he didn’t drag me into a genjutsu and tutored me there?_

All of her nausea and self-pity were tossed out of the window. It was utterly unprofessional for a ninja being absent-minded, but breaking the seal inside her was unbelievably simple, and self-mockery worked well soothing her nerves a little.

It was an easy feat. Without any hurdle or difficulties Sakura broke all those nasty things that had been blocking her original chakra system since she was a child. She swallowed hard as nothing happened at first, humble room and a shivering Sakura-chan in it.

Then, all of a sudden, Sakura just felt it. Warm and gentle, like wind stroking her hair and sunlight kissing her skin. Chakra, _her_ chakra. The kunoichi anticipated pain, but there were none. This massive emerged from nowhere, quivering, vibrating, warbling, rejoicing as it flushed her body with warmth. It was nothing but being _complete_ again. Every nerve and fiber was singing and she sighed in content, totally absorbed in the most amazing moment of her life. It felt so damn good and…

“Senju, huh?”

A velvet whisper jarred her back to reality. It was Madara, his expression placid, a stark contrary to his dangerously flaring chakra. Sakura didn’t even _dare_ to look at him, in fear of being caught by his deadly dōjutsu. So when a gloved hand reached for her, she jerked back.

Wrong move.

Apparently her movement stoked Madara’s flame of anger. For he lashed out at her and punched a glorious hole on the wall. Under her terrified gaze the said man chuckled almost hysterically, grabbed his gunbai and swung it to her neck.

They fought with taijutsu in the humble little room. Chakra vibrated in the air, keeping the merry noise of festival otherworldly. They stuck with taijutsu, as if neither of them remembered they were fighters proficient in innumerable shinobi arts. Side steps, turning, swinging, tripping. It was their dance.

‘Is there something wrong with your brother’s head?! A word and a blow, you Uchiha all tend to be unreasonable, yeah!’

Madara was _laughing_. They were wild and humorless roars, full of mockery and insanity. He was decidedly agile for his build and he was fast. With unparalleled speed he swung the gunbai, landing blows on the kunoichi without hitting any furniture in the room.

“Why you dance, Senju girl? Can’t even manipulate your chakra properly?”

Ignoring the stab of hurt at his words, Sakura kept her mouth shut and dodged simultaneous attacks. She felt awkward, never for once had she found her own body _this_ unfamiliar. Having used to fight without large chakra supply, the kunoichi had trouble with focusing her newly retrieved power. Sometimes she was putting too much of chakra into her limbs, sending jolts of pain that indicates chakra burn. More importantly, her body was reflexing way faster than it used to be, breaking her previousl fighting pattern and make her frantic in front of the raven-haired man.

And she realized that Uchiha Madara had gone easy with her during their first fight back in the Land of Grass.

“Unbearably pathetic… How come _you_ being Hashirama’s descendant?” Madara chuckled as he landed a solid punch to the kunoichi’s abdomen. His lips twisted sickly when he saw the kunoichi spat out a mouthful of blood. Uchiha Madara enjoyed any painful noises made by Senju. It was intrinsic, immutable, and he wanted to hear _more_.

And he acted on impulse, grabbed the kunoichi by her neck and tightened around it. How fragile, with a single snap and this Senju girl could simply rest in peace.

‘Do something, Danna! He’s killing her!’

‘As if I am capable of anything in this kami-forsaken state!’

“Since inferiors like you can fall into the category of Konoha elite, it is such a shame dear Sasuke cannot bring down Konoha in three months.”

 _Hypoxia is a funny thing,_ Sakura thought vaguely as her conscious drifted away. She couldn’t feel her limbs, nor her hemorrhaging internal. And she had got serious auditory hallucination, hearing familiar voices interrupt Madara’s humiliation every now and then.

_Those voices… they sound… they sound worried. W-why?_

Her sluggish brain failed to process anything before she passed out.

* * *

A dark figure descended into the wilderness. It moved with such speed and grace that it could be only described as a blur of ego. Suddenly it halted in the middle of the rocky plain, pulled out a wooden fan and swung it at a random direction. Violent wind was generated. It roared through the desolate plain and tore every single piece of object that lied in its path. Soon the cloud of dust and debris cleared up, revealing the profile of the strongest Uchiha on earth.

Uchiha Madara was livid. He had fled from the Senju girl or he would choke the life out of her. It was irrational, he knew it, but he just couldn’t help himself because she was Hashirama’s offspring.

Mori no Senju Ichizoku! Always the superior one, always the trumpet one, always the respected one! Couldn’t they just die out peacefully and leave him alone?!

Drawing a deep breath, Madara forced himself to calm down. Years of fierce rivalry with Hashirama had poisoned his thought. Time could cure, but the almost spontaneous resentment toward anything Senju related had been lurking around.

 _Screw you all, Ōtsutsuki!_ He snarled in displeasure as he recalled what he had seen when annexing Indra’s vestigial consciousness. Stupid Rikudō Sennin for planting the seed of conflicts by favoring his younger son. Stupid Indra for being manipulated by Black Zetsu and trying to take over his body. Stupid Asura for… for bringing forth the Senju clan.

_I am Uchiha Madara, the one and the only. And I don’t give a damn to inheriting Indra’s vendetta and foolishness._

“Never the let the so-called Curse of Hatred get under your skin.” He murmured in a low voice, his brain was no longer overheated and functioning as usual.

A hardhearted he might be, but he was a man with a heart. He had been living in isolation since the day he left Konoha, scheming, trapped in the past like a fading ghost, until a spring dryad with pink hair and green eyes stumbled across his summer meadow. Sakura was not the first to discover his hideout, however, she was the only one with enough courage and strength to face him in combat. For the past two months they had travelled in pair, and he found peace.

Thus he felt betrayed when his cherry blossom fairy turned to be a descendant of Hashirama. The Will of the World wasn’t satisfied with his misery and therefore introduced him Sakura. No doubt she was the best kunoichi he had ever seen, yet she was still a little girl with loving heart and untainted soul. Admittedly she had conspicuously soft and harmless exterior, but appearance had nothing to do with a shinobi’s aptitude and professionalism. In fact, the little girl was the only one he had acknowledged as competent and worth fighting for an awful long time, and she was more than a kunoichi to him. He would never speak out loud, but…

“I am enamored with you.”

* * *

“Have I ever told you that your eyes are gorgeous,” said Sasuke. It was a flat statement inside compliment, flat, nonchalant, unconcerned, but it worked well on the kunoichi standing in front of his desk.

“Hokage-sama, office’s not a proper place for flirting,” Yamanaka Ino replied shyly with her mesmerizing eyes downcast, her standard attire of Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, a stark contrast to her cascade mane of platinum blonde hairs.

“I’m serious. Ino, dine out with me tomorrow.”

With color rushed into her cheeks the kunoichi batted her long eyelashes at the Uchiha. “Of course, Hokage-sama. It’ll be my greatest pleasure to spend time with you.”

* * *

Against the chilling wind Madara rushed back to the inn, but he was one step behind. The girl had vanished after leaving their room charge to the proprietress. With a straight face Madara drained the herbal tea she placed on the nightstand before. It tasted cold.

_Of course she’s not waiting. No one in their right mind would stay put and wait for a foe…_

Soundlessly he climbed up the roof and made the hand seal of confrontation. Inch by inch he searched for her: maple woods, small pounds, empty streets... lovers whispering sweet words, night watches dozing off, crude walls and beacon towers… Eventually he found her chakra, split up into four directions. _Well, well my cherry blossom dryad,_ Madara chuckled in delight, _shadow clones cannot confuse me_.

He picked out the most solid signature among the four and set out for it. Half an hour later he caught up, just in time to see a pink-haired girl disappeared with a puff of smoke.

It was shadow clone as well.

 _Fantastic. Despite the lack of chakra coil, a shadow clone has no difference from the original. …I should have examined those chakra signature more carefully before._ Madara stared at the blank space previously occupied by Sakura’s clone, acknowledging the fact he had been tricked by a kunoichi what, approximately ninety years younger than him? She must have stayed in the town until he took off, so it would be too late for him to go after the real her. But here came the good news: her clone performed a Futon before she dispelled herself. Madara figured it as her way of passing messages, and he planned to meet the recipients.

Thus he followed the wind swirl. It was difficult to keep track of it, for the chakra molded into it was so _scarce_ that he had to use his Sharingan to detect. And it was moving incredibly _fast_ on the wings of late autumn chills, regardless of cliffs and ravines on the ground. But Madara managed to follow.

For more than twenty-four hours he was on the chase, yet that swirl of wind didn’t halt. It was a long trek, crossing the shifting sands in the desert of Wind and the roaring cataract in the mountains of River. He saw prosperous towns and their merry residents, laughing and drinking as he ran over their roofs. He saw dilapidated villages, bones and skeletons littering around some unnamed burial-mounds. He saw wretched fishermen drew in empty nets while struggling against whirlpools and cold rains.

When the wind slowed by, Madara found himself under a canopy of maples and gingkoes. It was in Fire, the very land he had never stepped foot in since his battle with Hashirama eighty years ago.

Warily he looked up into the early winter sky. It was night time again. Pale was the moon and gale was the wind. He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

 _I must be out of my mind_ , he decided.

Otherwise, why were those high, cold stars mocking him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those stuffs above are quite mind-blowing, huh? I am just playing in Kishimoto's sandbox and telling a what-if story, yeah. Now you know why Sakura had some haunted feeling in the first chapter lol


	9. Sakura - Let’s finish the mess Sasuke started

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I'm about to post this chapter, I realize that I've forgot to make the following statement. *cough*
> 
> This work is kind of inspired by MadaSaku's work Kryptonite on FanFiction[dot]Net, that's why some dialogues in Star Foam may seem to be strangely familiar...yeah. However, Star Foam is more than a fanfic's fanfic. I developed an interesting plotline and brought in plenty of additional settings. By this mean, MadaSaku's work can only be regarded as a prompt for me.
> 
> BTW, reading MadaSaku's work Kryptonite may reveal some of my plots. But I believe that you, my dear readers, can figure out there are plenty of things unrevealed in this book! ^o^

It was dawn in Mount Kailāśa, the rising sun painted gold on its rugged cliffs. A dozen blue sheep strolled along steep slopes, taking their easy when feeding on mosses. Eagles patrolled the cliff in search of easier targets. One of the blue sheep lifted its head for a moment, and then continued its meal peacefully, unware of the predatory eyes nearby.

Lakshmi positioned herself between two boulders, pale grey eyes fixed on her target. Pillaiyar was crouching on a higher level now, currently out of view. But Lakshmi knew when to strike. And she had been counting: next time the eagle shrieked, they would start.

The screeching sound pierced the morning mist, and she moved. Soundlessly she ran down the crackless steep, her large paws against rubbles. A blur of rosy gray came into the corner of her eye, it was Pillaiyar.

Her prey was agile, but Lakshmi was even better. Under a leafless bush she caught it by its leg. A perfect bite that was, accurate and solid, making the blue sheep wail pitifully. But the feline did not show mercy. She bit harder, hard enough to feel hot blood pouring into her mouth. Then she released her prey, only to rip its throat open.

Not until the blue sheep ceased to its last struggle could Lakshmi look over her hard-earned prey. It was a young female, with lovely horns and a short dense coat of fur. The feline nodded in satisfaction, then proceeded to drag her triumph back to the den.

* * *

Gradually the temperature picked up. When Lakshmi and Pillaiyar returned to the den with their preys, the sun had been up for a while. Happily, she dropped her prey and saw Kumaran - her older brother - nodding grimly at elder Varuna’s speaking.

“Morning, honorable elder! May the wind of Kailāśa forever caress your hair!” Lakshmi greeted the larger feline with respectful eyes. Then she turned to Kumaran, nudging him with her tail. “And you, my big brother, what’s that look on your face? Got kicked by a blue sheep or something?”

Kumaran rolled his eyes. “No qualified hunter will be kicked by a blue sheep, but amateur like you will make such a mistake, Lakshmi-chan.” He jumped aside as Lakshmi whipped her tail at him. “Behave, you’ve no longer a kitten, or you just acting like a spoiled child around our poor cousin when he brings you out to hunt?”

Lakshmi went in a flap: “I am twelve years old now—”

“A whining kitten still…”

“Sakura summoned me the most and I took—”

“because it consumes less chakra to summon the weakest…”

“and I took down Ten-Tails’ clones more than one time—”

“with Pillaiyar’s help and mine, yet you still got three broken ribs…”

“I AM NOT A LITTLE BABY! Listen up, Kumaran, I just had my first kill this morning and it was nice and clean and…”

Her voice trailed off under Varuna’s meaningful look. Oh, how she wanted to show off all her feats to her annoying brother. Kumaran was jealous, just because Sakura asked for her company frequently while only summoned him when training or fighting! Her brother only had himself to blame: if _he_ hadn’t been oh-so-高冷 before Sakura, good girl Lakshmi wouldn’t have those chances staying with dear Sakura-onēchan!

 _Well, behave now, young lady, elder_ Varuna _is watching!_

Secretly Lakshmi stole a glance at the larger feline, not wanting to leave a bad impression. Though she and Sakura-onēchan shared a good relationship, she would not forget the fact that _elder Varuna_ was the one who had signed a direct contract with her petal-haired sis.

“Enough chitchat kiddos, Tsubomi’s cousin left your Sakura-one a letter and she learns about her parentage right now. I am under the impression Rudra will bestow her a name soon…and you should work hard in order to be her companion by then. Any questions?”

Pillaiyar asked: “How do you know this, Varuna? I mean, Sakura hasn’t summoned us for weeks.”

“It’s simple, little prince, the seal put on her by Konoha shinobi is unsolvable, so I replaced it with my own seal.”

“Why didn’t she summoned us now?”

“Perhaps…”

Varuna shook his head as the youngest generation debating in high spirits.

Suddenly Lord Rudra’s voice breathed on their neck. For a moment Lakshmi got frantic, but she felt decidedly better when she saw Kumaran’s uneasiness. She turned her gaze to Varuna with admiration, for the white feline didn’t even waver.

“Varuna, you’re going to train Sakura and you’re going to bring her to me in three days with her kekkei genkai activated. Lines on the astrolabe are changing.”

“Of course, my friend.” Replied Varuna, then he disappeared.

Lakshmi started at the swirls and said in a sing-song voice. “…I wanna go and train with Sakura-onēchan too.” She began to dream up future: they are the keeper of peace…

“Don’t be daydreaming Lakshmi, you can’t even use chakra properly right now,” Kumaran taunted.

Lakshmi just leaped to her annoying her brother in response. And the two of them rolled into a blur of gray furs and black rosette.

* * *

There was frost on the ground, and those dark green early autumn leaves were crispy and coated in thick ice.

This disordering scene was truly pleasing to the eye, but the creator of this was too occupied to enjoy it. With a quite thud, lily hands hit the ground, ice spikes emerged from the thin air as if an invisible hand had squeezed moisture out.

Sakura narrowed her eyes as her ice-release #4 pierced through the tree that served as her target. This ninjutsu was as good as her previous creations since she had already learned the trick of generating H2O from thin air. It was kind of unfair: she had to comprehend every single detail of chakra manipulation theory in order to execute ninjutsu easily; while geniuses like Naruto needed only to follow their instinct. But luckily, she had a mentor.

“Well done, Sakura. Now re-do this technique for three more times, then our work for today will be over.”

It was Varuna, the respectful elder from Mount Kailāśa who agreed to train her with her kekkei genkai. The petal-haired kunoichi had signed a contract with him after she made chūnin at the age of 14. Though she summoned Lakshmi and her generation more, but Varuna was special. They were linked in an unspeakable way, sharing natural consensus, perfect partners. They would spend a lot more time together but for her lack of chakra storage.

…Yet the two of them had just went in to run-in period.

When Varuna brought her to Mount Kailāśa via reversed summoning technique four days ago, Sakura thought she was done. No one was capable of staying calm after going through the mess of “learning your noble but miserable pedigree”, “falling out with the most infamous missing-nin among history”. In a fuss she fired random ninjutsu and promptly overwhelmed her newly-rebuilt chakra channel.

It was Varuna who calmed her and led her to the den of Rudra, the Lord of Snow Leopard and the Keeper of Mount Kailāśa. Before that she had only seen Lord Rudra twice: the first time she was signing contract with the snow leopard clan, the second time she was on her way to release Kabuto’s Edo-Tensei during the Fourth Shinobi World War. And upon their third meet the petal-haired kunoichi learned the truth about the heritage of Yukino clan. [Yukino一族的传承与荣耀]

_Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it._

Sakura inhaled sharply and activated her dōjutsu. She had completed it with Varuna’s help, but it was not perfect…yet. In her enhanced vision energies were visualized, granting her the ability to see material energy and spiritual energy—it would take both of them to generate chakra—as well as natural energy. There were no black threads of spots lingering anymore, but sparks of gold and indigo and sometimes threads of silver. She did not know what they represented, but granted, she was sure those gold or indigo spots suggested some sort of weak link in the chain.

_Control, retain, observe, focus… here!_

On the surface of ice spikes the petal-haired kunoichi noticed several wavering shade of gold. Immediately she casted wind daggers at them, chakra surged through pathways without the aid of hand seals. Invisible blades pierced the cold dry air, swishing, until they met their sighted points and shattered their targets into pieces of crystals.

Subsequently to her visit in Mount Kailāśa her training with the snow leopard elder began. It was…kind of brutal. Varuna was her friend, yes. Varuna was kind, another yes. But the feline was also one of the strongest snow leopards, therefore he was anti-humanly severe when it came to business.

Instead of training Sakura in every aspect possible, Varuna focused on ice-releases and her self-made dōjutsu. From the basic drills they started. She was asked to change ice into water, water into vapor. Then shortly after she was required to control volume and shape when performing phase changes. It was hard at first, but she was progressing fast. Every day she woke up with new ideas on ice manipulating techniques, and her dōjutsu was now completed. She even wanted to combine ice-release with taijutsu, but Varuna stopped her, saying it was brilliant and time-consuming and she wouldn’t like to “stop right in the middle in order to deal with the young snake in Konohagakure”.

_Now, the second round of practice._

Jaw tightened, the petal-haired kunoichi performed her ice release #4 again. This time Sakura picked another direction and consequently planted a line of giant ice spikes on the frosted ground.

…She was creative and had lots of ideas. But there was someone else contributed to her fast progress: Haku, one of the enemy shinobi she confronted on her first mission outside the village. It all happened seven years ago, but she still remembered the pause when she saw Haku’s body. It was more than fear, like what she had thought when she was a naïve little girl, but sadness and familiarity, a wish to actually know him, like two kindred souls toyed by destiny. From then on she kept dreaming of a strangely familiar man shielding her from the pale blade of Death. Now she knew it was her father, and the blur in memory was a side-effect of Konoha’s sealing…

_It was really, really strange to dream about your father after seeing your cousin’s dead body._

Those gold and blue sparks in her eyes blurred, the kunoichi blinked away her tears. She _needed_ to go forward, never looking back. In time of war people died; in time of peace people mourned. The strong overwhelming the weak, the rich overwhelming the poor. Great shinobi nations weaving war, small civilian towns begging food. Too much unjust to change, too many wounds to heal, and too many mistakes to regret.

_First thing off, let’s finish the mess Sasuke-kun started._

* * *

‘This is _art_. Notice the accuracy when she shatters the ice?’

Floating freely in the air, Itachi automatically screened out Deidara’s blubbering and watched the petal-haired kunoichi practicing ice-release techniques over and over again. There was no doubt Haruno Sakura had been a good shinobi, diligent, brainy, strong, always professional. But she became even better after her parentage revealed. She was no longer chained, and her true potential uncovered.

‘Oooh, and these lotus style spikes! Give me some clay and I’ll make you a bomb version of it, yeah!’

 ‘……’

‘I don’t like Sakura’s summons on the whole. It’s not a good thing for us losing our conscious the moment we enter their territory. Do you agree with me, Itachi no Danna?’

‘……’

‘Oh man, can’t you just say something? Tall and fair and cool and whatever, Itachi no Dana, no wonder Orochimaru kept tailing you from day one, yeah.’

‘…Please drop this topic, Deidara. What do you want me to say?’

‘Ah! Our hearts have the same feeling! There’s a tiny little question nagging at me now,’ said Deidara with a triumph smirk. ‘Sakura learns to manipulate ice by manipulating wind and water simultaneously. But many shinobi out there are wind and water natured as well, why cannot they use ice release?’

The raven-haired male sighed in defeat. ‘Hyōton is a nature transformation kekkei genkai, just like your Bakuton. Furthermore, it takes prices to activate kekkei genkai. Take Sharingan for example. Despite that every clansman processes the gene of Sharingan, only shinobi with sizable chakra reserve can awake their eyes… The more powerful the kekkei genkai is, the larger amount of chakra is required.’

‘Inheritance and chakra reserve, yeah.’ Deidara nodded in agreement. He remembered the completely ruined cave where Sakura defeated Sasori no Danna years before. And the time they were battling Kabuto, and the Chakra outburst she did in order to use Sōzō Saisei. ‘Hell, it will hurt like hell if I was punched by her chakra enhanced fist!’

Itachi narrowed his eyes. If sweet kami-sama did not quite Deidara soon, he would test whether the dead can be killed or not...

‘And your eyes! How is it possible for your eyes still functional while my Bakuton is utterly useless?’

‘Then how it possible for you to consider me an encyclopedia?’ Itachi asked dryly, and received a whispering “Mighty Uchiha” as a reply.

 _…the mighty Uchiha can test it here and now,_ Itachi deadpanned. Sharingan was good enough for a genjutsu in which Deidara was his favorite bakudan.

‘Er…calm down, Itachi no Dana. You are not going to murder me with bakudan illusions, yeah!’

* * *

Sakura was exhausted when the sun climbed down the sky. Using ice release #4 without hand seals was not easy, neither was maintaining a newly developed dōjutsu.

 _So it’s totally not offending for me to be in this state when meeting our Tenshi-sama,_ thought the petal-haired kunoichi when she sensed a chakra signature quickly approaching. _Ah, there she comes._

“Evening, miss. You are as charming as always,” said Varuna, who would be more courteous if he hadn’t push Sakura so hard in the afternoon.

“Konbawa, Varuna-kun,” said Konan, smiling. Apparently, Sakura’s pitiful state entertained her. “Evening to you too, Sakura the training mania.”

“You can’t be serious,” Sakura brushed away strays of pink hair from her face. Now Her cheongsam dress was completely wet, and her shorts glued on her thighs, cold and uncomfortable. What was worse, there was a gracious feline standing nearby. “One get to working hard when facing extreme challenges such like assassinate Sasuke.”

The elder kunoichi huffed in recognition. Then she turned to the feline. “I’ve finished patrolling; shall we dine together?” she asked the two of them.

“You are so sweet, Konan-san. It has been a hard day for Sakura. So why don’t you two ladies dine out and relax yourselves?” Varuna replied. Like a scarce animal descending he jumped down, large paws soundlessly against the frosted ground. With such dignity he bided the kunoichi goodbye and teleported away. And he intoned before disappearing in a wind swirl: “You are a kunoichi, Sakura, but you are a female also. As a friend of Snow Leopards you are supposed to be a lady. And ladies are graceful; they know how to love themselves, always beautiful and amour-propre.”

 _Cat,_ Sakura thought dryly, _always the dapper eye-minded…_ Despite her inner whining, she began to ”love herself” following Varuna’s words. _Good thing I keep my hair short, shorter is easier to look after._

“Race me.”

“Huh? Just a moment, Konan. I need to comb my hair… What?” By the time Sakura turned back, the blue-haired kunoichi was already a stone throw away.

“Hey… Wait for me! That’s not fair!!!”

* * *

After a few minutes the they reached their favorite tavern. With autumn chill light rain fell onto the wooden rooftop, and wind bells sang beside a grinning teru teru bozu.

Konan was definitely no amateur when it came to drinking, if the white flasks all over the table meant anything. After the two kunoichi acquainted with each other, Konan gradually revealed some of her fancies. For example, origami; for another example, having sake instead of tea at the beginning of day. For yet another example, enjoy every dish or drink this tavern would serve.

The kunoichi in question poured some sake into her porcelain cup. “So, how are your students doing?”

“They are doing well,” replied Sakura lightly. The two kids she taught were doing well, Akitoki focused on pharmacology while Yumi focused on field first-aid training. While Ame had had her medical system built, materials and supplies were always running short. But villagers and shinobi worked hard, and together they made Ame a better place for everyone. Technically speaking, Sakura had finished her part of the deal, yet she had become Ame’s friend, and Konan welcomed her. “And you have your hospital and clinics functioning and your researchers ready… Better focus on healing instead of poisoning. Children are the future of a shinobi village and young shinobi can’t grow up without proper medical attention.”

“Huh, then Amegakure and Leaf’s Town are quite lucky to have you on our sides,” said Konan. “You know, it’s said that Iwa has just refused to acknowledge Sasuke’s authorization as Hokage… Your friends in Leaf’s Town is doing well, why don’t you join them?”

“Oh? How about your medical system if I go away?” Sakura asked half-jokingly. But the truth was that she simply could not join her friends in Leaf’s Town. Being Sasuke’s old teammate was one things, all those classified scrolls was another. “Besides, I am not good at political stuffs, never straighten up my mind even with shishou’s guidance... I will just incommode Yamato-taichou if I go to Leaf’s Town. And Madara may follow me to their makeshift base——Besides, those Suna elders won’t be happy to see a poison expert hanging around.”

“And the best medical-nin as well. Really, it never occurs to me that my dear Sakura is a Senju. What’s on your mentor’s letter?”

_Here it comes… time for a sensitive topic Sakura-chan._

Shinobi villages all had their secrets. As second apprentice to Godaime Hokage, Sakura had to be careful. There were things a shinobi couldn’t share with anyone else. She had secrets, so did Konan and the Kusa duo and the Suna siblings. But they respect each other and never cross the line… Those tricks on Tsunade’s letter were techniques used by Konoha ANBU, however, there was something else to share.

“Shishou wrote me a letter about my parentage during the war, and she told me many other things as well…”

“Like something about your summons? I’m surprised to see you not having slugs as your summons.”

“Well, snow leopards are summons from my father’s family. Lakshmi our little messenger is the youngest but Varuna is my battle mate technically.” Sakura rolled her eyes. “Come on, why everyone keeps asking me why pink hair sakura not having slugs as her summoning? People regarding me as one of the new Sannin doesn’t mean I use the same summons like my mentor!”

Then their conversation closed and the two kunoichi focused on their meal again. Starts emerged before the last dish was finished. They were supposed to head back to Ame as soon as possible. But Konan took her time.

“Seriously, Sakura, are you going to kill Sasuke?”

Shrugging nonchalantly the petal-haired kunoichi replied, “that’s the worst condition.”

“Really?”

“What?! I get to settle things in Konoha quickly, and settling things down doesn’t mean killing! Remember we have an _Uchiha_ Madara at large?”

Konan grinned, as if the other kunoichi had humored her—which she did. “So you’ve got multiple plans? You are the kind of kunoichi always be prepared.”

“Of course, I’ve asked Lakshmi to pass on messages to Leaf’s town. If everything goes well I will meet the Muku and Ryūzetsu at Shirakawa tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tomorrow? Will it be a bit early?”

“Speed is a soldier’s best asset. I can’t afford the time waiting for backup,” Sakura replied. “If Madara just happily burns Konoha down, we will have troubles.”

* * *

 

He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her hair, her smile, her hands, her scents. Her eyes, vibrant and determined on that rainy night…

_But she betrayed you… just like the others. They all do… Traitors, scums, cowards…_

_No… no, she didn’t. I banished her, I sent her away. I am the savior and I will open my arms for her when everything is settled… I can’t have her stay!_

_Well, well, Sasuke-chan, you have your reasoning… But you cannot deny the fact she simply waltzes out of Konoha, ignoring your authority…_

_…_

_What a shame. She should abide you, yet she left and, mostly likely went for those scums living under Suna’s shelter..._

_BACK THE FUCK OFF!_

For a moment that silky voice vanished, then the dead body of his brother emerged. He tried to move but failed, frozen in his position like the million times before when Itachi lifted his eyelid.

‘What have you done, Sasuke?’ Warm sticky liquid flew off his brother’s hollow eye sockets. And his dead brother whispered to him, his voice low and gentle as if it was merely a talk back when they were children. ‘What have you done?’

THIS IS ALL WRONG!

“Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun! Are you still here with me? No more daydreaming!”

Strident voice jerked him back to reality. Sasuke frowned, anger exploded in his stomach at the notion of being caught by hallucination _again_. Unlike previous times, this time he was sitting in the middle of a restaurant, with a cheeky Ino and a table of unsavory dishes and lemonade.

“You just wandered off, Sasuke-kun,” said Ino as if she was singing an aria, her large aquamarine eyes sparking. But it was ugly, unacceptably, abhorrently ugly. The color was wrong; it should have been green, like the grassland kissed by vernal breeze. The shape was wrong either; almond was much prettier than annoying round. And the light; he couldn’t find the fire within, couldn’t find the fire belonged to Sakura… _Damn it!!!_

“The restaurant is hot.”

“Oh… Yes! This must be the cause.” The silly blonde girl before him overacted. “So, Why not have some lemonade? It is sweet and tasty and rich in antioxidant vitamin, good for beautifying and…”

Too impatient to listen Ino’s nonsense, Sasuke grabbed the glass in front of him and drained it. And he grimaced at the terrible taste.

Foolish woman, he thought, drinking _this_ sort of thing for beautifying.

* * *

 

“See, love. Sakura-chan dropped us a message,” said a shinobi, showing the tiny wind swirl in his palm to his partner.

Madara, fatigued after a good three-days-chase, hid quietly in the shadow and observed the two. The shinobi who had received Sakura’s message was obviously fire natured, considering the fierceness of his chakra. And his partner, a kunoichi with outstanding white hair. Both of them were clad in some yukata like attire, no forehead protector, no conspicuous weapons. However, both of them had chakra texture that was strange and notable.

“Just open it, Muku,” said the female.

Muku, Madara repeated this name; he searched it in his memory but found nothing. Not even his hot, sticky fire-natured chakra provoked anything. To the Uchiha’s dismay, the small wind charged with Sakura’s chakra stretched and wrapped the playsome shinobi. Madara, however, could only stare and watch in the dark.

Meanwhile, he felt strangely proud: Not many jutsu can be active after leaving its executor for too long, and his girl just happened to create one.

_She is the kunoichi I acknowledged…_

“So this is our sweet loving buddy Sakura-chan! There is _always_ unexpectedness around her… Our lives have become much more exhilarating since the day we met her. Are you with my, Ryū?”

“You shut up and be quiet,” replied the one called Ryū, “so what we do now, go for Bird and met her? But we have a mission half on the way.”

Nonchalantly the Katon-user shrugged. Then he summoned a small fireball and popped it with his pointing finger. “A mission is a mission, easy money is money also… Ah, take a look at this.” Carelessly he shied the fireball sideway and began to make hand seals.

Startled, Madara stepped back and hid behind a tree quickly, Sharingan fixed on the tree trunk under his nose. The male shinobi almost found him, almost, if the black mark three steps away meant anything. Now he was sure these two friends of Sakura were good ninja. Obviously they were close to his girl, so he should not giving them some unfavorable impression…

There was soft rustling of fabrics, metal clicking, peculiar chakra disturbance and the smell of another life-firm. _A new chakra signature, tiny… so tiny, must be summoning jutsu... What’s the summon? A… cat?_

Quickly the chakra disturbance of their summoning technique disappeared. Then the low female voice came: “Let’s go now. If we are hurry, we may reach the town for supply before sunset.”

Then they left, two peculiar chakra signatures quickly speeding up.

The wind whispered in the empty wild; Madara stepped out the shadow he hid. Things turned out more perplexing than he originally thought, but he already knew what to do next.

Black tomoe spinning in the bloodshed of his dōjutsu, Madara looked south, winter was dawning on the Land of Fire.

_…I will end this mess for you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter in Section 4: Beyond the Fire. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy it as much as I do. :)

**Author's Note:**

> #1 I've published the first few chapters of this story in AO3 but later orphaned them by mistake... This is the new, rewritten version of Star Foam and I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> #2 I make Haruno Sakura my heroine, but I only give her potential and opportunities to become a better self.
> 
> #3 I don't bite, nor did Madara, though he's a bit unhappy because romance is not the major concern for this story.
> 
> #4 Unlike some recreational One-shot, every character appeared in this multi-chapter story for a reason, so do the plots.
> 
> #5 The cultural/supernatural elements in this story are from: Naruto/Japanese culture, Chinese culture, and Hinduism Myths. I need to clarify this, but personally I believe that the lines between oriental culures are blur and there is no need for fanfic readers to ponder over them.
> 
> #6 I will write a long, long, author-note chapter when the story is concluded. Yap, shoot me anything that confuses you, if I don't response instantly, then the material is too important to be left in a comment or an author note.


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